The One Piece Naruto Clash
by GaMeBrEaKeR
Summary: This is just my story of the collaboration of One Piece and Naruto. Give the story a chance, so read and review inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Mystery Hole in the Grand Line**

"I'm so bored, is there anything to do?" cried Luffy. He just laid there with a bored, stretched out face as he stared at the sea.

It has been a while since they've seen any island on the Grand Line, and everyone was busy with their own thing. Chopper was in the storage room, creating some new kind of Rumble Ball. Zoro was just plain boring to be around with. All he did was train, eat, and sleep. Sanji was too busy trying to grab Nami's and Robin's affection to spend time with this one bored captain. Usopp was trying to create some new zany device and doing what he can to help out the Going Merry. Luffy tried to help, but created a catastrophe instead, so he was banned anywhere near Usopp's working station.

"I guess I'll see what Nami is up to?" he decided. He jumped up to the upper level of the ship and cracked open the door to Nami's room.

"_Eh? She's working on those maps again. Boring!"_ he childishly commented in his mind. His posture stooped down once again as he slowly walked over to his favorite seat on the boat, Going Merry's "head".

"Land-ho!" he yelled out in excitement all of a sudden. Finally, a new place to explore, and it also meant he was one step closer in grabbing the throne of Pirate King.

Slowly the crew gathered around as their ship came closer to the new land mass. The area of land that lied in front of their eyes had a peculiar feeling to it though.

"Uh…, why can I see the island from this angle, but not from another?" asked Usopp as he observed their new destination through the binoculars.

"Usopp, are you drunk or something? Give them over here!" ordered Zoro. Usopp made some small snide remarks as he handed over the binoculars, but stopped once the green-haired swordsmn gave him a grumpy, scary look.

"I…, Usopp is right!" he said in total surprise.

"Eh, what you mean?" Nami, the navigator questioned. She grabbed the binoculars from the hands of the swordsman, and her response seemed to be much similar. "It seems like some kind of warp hole! (Luffy says "Ooh, a mystery hole!")" She looked down at the Log Pose to see if they were heading in the appropriate direction. Her next expression came to be a total shocked one. "I'm not sure what could've happened, but we're supposed to be going right of whatever that is. If we enter that hole, who knows what might happen!"

"Guys, you heard her!" shouted out Sanji. "Adjust the sails!"

All the men rushed to their appropriate positions to help make the ship avoid this "warp hole". But as they were about to reach there, their bodies froze still.

"Wha-what's happening?" Chopper asked in his over-sized form as he struggled to move.

"I can't move…," Usopp stated softly as he stared at the ship getting closer and closer to what can possibly be a gate to a new dimension.

"What the hell is this?" Zoro said in anger as he tried his best to move a muscle.

But he couldn't move his body at all, much like the rest of the Straw Hats. They helplessly watched as they were pulled into the warp hole. Soon they were all sucked into this portal, and hopelessly fell endlessly into this unknown swirling space.

"Guys, whatever happens, we'll be in this together. Got that?" he told the others loudly. In this mysterious and possibly dangerous situation, a captain's leadership to calm down his men needs to be shown. "Got it?"

"Hai!" they all shouted back. Wherever this portal led them, they will never lose sight of their goals and each other."

"I haven't seen All Blue yet, so there's no way in hell I will let this piece of crap throw me off course!" told Sanji. "And of course…, Nami-swaaan and Robin-chwaaaan, I'll always protect you guys!"

"As a true warrior of the sea, this is just another day!" Usopp said followed by one of his fake laughs to shield his fears.

"Maybe this will lead us to more evidence on the 'Void History'?" Robin considered optimistically.

"I'm not scared at all!" cried out Chopper in a semi-frightened voice.

"I hope they have some strong swordsmen there, because I'm not close to finishing my journey yet!" Zoro hoped out loud.

"And I'm…, I'M GONNA MAKE A MAP OF THE WHOLE WORLD, SO I'M NOT GOING TO LET THIS THING STOP ME FROM IT!" Nami shouted out in a burst of bravery.

"I can't wait where this mystery hole brings us. Let's go, guys!"

-SCENE-

Shizune rushed into Hokage's office to report a new situation arising near Konoha. "Hokage-sama, a few villagers are running scared from some incidents that just happened in the lake 15 miles near the east gate. They stated that a group of people just dropped out of nowhere into the water with a large ship following after them."

"_Could it be Akatsuki? Or what about Orochimaru finishing what he started last time? It is even possible that it can be a new enemy?" _thought Tsunade. The rush of possibilities was endless, how was she supposed to act now?

"Send two ANBU members to the location of the scene. I don't care which two, just make sure they handle it!" she ordered. Shizune complied and rushed out the door to fulfill her commands.

-SCENE-

"It worked! It worked! The Straw Hats are gone forever!" Buggy cried. He and his new groups of comrades celebrated in complete joy once they saw the presence of their enemy disappearing in thin air.

"Yes, their irking presence, especially Luffy's, are no longer our problem," stated Kurohadole, formerly known as Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates. He pushed up his glasses with an evil smirk on his face.

"This news is wonderful, although I would've loved to pay him back personally," commented Alvida. She started caressing her silky smooth skin as the members of the Buggy Band intensely watched with drools on their face.

"Good riddance," Don Krieg stated.

"So who was the guy that helped us out again?" Kurohadole asked curiously.

"Well, they only issued their organization name. I think it was called Koragen or something," Buggy told. He was too happy to care for the little details. I mean, their long time nemesis is gone off the face of this world. Santa couldn't land any better gift than this!

"But why would they help us out for free. Are they also enemies of the Straw Hats?" Alvida asked, suddenly suspicious of the whole situation.

"Who cares? As long as I don't have to deal with that Gomu Gomu nonsense again, I'm a happy man!" Don Krieg said.

But they couldn't celebrate for long, as Marines surrounded the facility. They were immediately netted with Kairouseki to prevent them from escaping with the use of their powers. They were hauled outside by the Marine men. Outside, they met a familiar face.

"Yo!" Smoker said in his dull tone.

"The criminals have been apprehended, sir!" Tashigi said in a professional tone.

"Well done. Let's see who we have here: the clown and his circus, Kurohadole, Don Krieg, and of course, the lovely Alvida. With the Straw Hat on that list, this would be the perfect catch." Smoker said.

The captured criminals started laughing. "I'm sorry Smoker-san, but you'll never be able to catch them now," Alvida said as she let out a laugh.

"Tashigi, haul them away," Smoker said as he puffed smoke out of his two cigars.

"Hai!"

-SCENE-

Heading toward the scene they are to investigate, two ANBU jump tree branch to tree branch to advance under the night sky.

"Naruto, you shouldn't go so fast. We have to be cautious. This group of people can be anybody!" Shikamaru warned. Starting tomorrow, it would be his third year in ANBU. He knew the tricks of the field too well, and he didn't want his rookie partner to fall easily.

"I don't care. If it's Akatsuki, I'll crush them! If it's Orochimaru, I'll crush him! If it's Sasuke, I'll crush him!" he said as his demon chakra started fueling his anger.

"_Damn, this guy is letting Kyuubi control his emotions. I can't allow him to enter a possible dangerous area while his blinded by hatred. How troublesome," _the lazy pony-tailed ANBU thought. "Kage Mane no Jutsu!" His shadow trapping jutsu immediately grabbed hold of the shadow that laid under the jinchuuriki. He perfectly restrained the blonde ANBU to pacify him.

"What the hell! Let me free!" Naruto yelled as his mask slipped off his face. Fangs and whiskers turned out to be very visible on his face, a clear sign of Kyuubi taking over.

"Naruto, you know that you're one troublesome guy. I don't see how they allowed a reckless Chuunin, like yourself, into the field of ANBU. All you can do is screw up missions with your thoughtless behavior," Shikamaru lectured.

"I have no time for your boring commentary on how I'm supposed to act. I have a mission, and I plan to complete it!"

"And how do you suppose that would work? Rush in, fall into their trap, and enslaved for life with no chance in hell of ever being free. Or do you just want to just go in and fight till your 'tragic' death? Not only do those kinds of actions affect yourself, but it also affects the whole village. Do you want everybody in Konoha to suffer for your means of revenge? You're no better than Sasuke if you say you do…"

"I… You're right, I'll calm down, I promise. Now let me free," Naruto said in a more calm tone. "We still have a mission to complete."

Shikamaru released his jutsu upon request. He knew that Naruto cared for Konoha to much to place it in any type of danger, so he used that to calm him down. Naruto picked up his mask and put it on to hide his face again.

"Now, let's go," Shikamaru ordered. Within seconds, they started to advance forward again at a quick pace toward the area the 'invasion' was supposed to already happen.

"_Hopefully, it won't be any big threat. Our manpower is too low at the moment to engage into any type of big battle…"_

-SCENE-

"Aaaaaaaaah, please don't eat me, big monster. Take Chopper instead!" Usopp cried out in his sleep. He immediately woke up to see his crewmates, off in a distance, examining the forest area.

"Eh, guys…, where are we?" he asked

"I'm not sure, but I do know we're not anywhere close to where we were," stated Chopper as he was examining the plants around him. "I never even saw these kind of herbs before!"

"Well, that's for sure. The Log Pose seems to be completely dead. The needle isn't reacting to any kind of magnetic field…" Nami said with a frown.

"Where's Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji?" Usopp asked as he looked around. They were near a lake surrounded by trees. Going Merry stood there on the body of water in pretty bad shape.

"They said that they're going to look around as well as gather some supplies," Robin told him.

"Guys, I smell people coming. There are two of them!" Chopper warned in a panic.

"MONSTERS!" Usopp shouted in complete shock of the unknown that are getting closer and closer to where they stood.

"Monsters?" Chopper asked in the same frightened tone.

"Usopp, stop making the situation look worser than it already is! I'm sure it's just the natives…" Nami said.

"I don't know, Nami. Their scent seems to be more distinguishable by the second. They are heading at us at a pretty fast rate," he told after he sniffed the air one more time.

"We have to hide or they'll eat us!"

"I also think hiding is the best solution. We don't want to cause unnecessary trouble or get caught," inputted Robin.

They all agreed on the hiding plan as they ran quietly over to the bushes to conceal their presence. Soon, Chopper's warning proved to be correct as two figures with masks landed at where they stood before.

"Where are they?" the blonde masked-man asked the other.

The other one bent down and started staring at the footprints on the dirt. He examined it and saw it going toward the bushy area.

"Oh my god, they're going to find us!" yelled out Chopper. His mouth was immediately covered by Usopp before the two mysterious men could notice the noise.

"Why is there a weird looking ship here?" the same one asked.

"Who knows? Let's check it out," he suggested as he got back up and went onto the ship with his partner. With his back turned, you could easily see his ponytail. They both jumped onto the Going Merry to investigate.

"_Great! This is a perfect chance for us to escape from these dangerous men. I'm sorry we have to leave you behind Going Merry, but we will come back for you!" _Usopp thought. "Guys, let's move quietly away from those scary guys," he whispered. He slowly tried to turn around, but found himself paralyzed from doing so.

"Stuck again?" Usopp cried.

"I'm getting really sick of this!" Nami exclaimed.

Then Usopp started taking off his backpack (the one he usually wears with all his gadgets in it) and unwillingly threw it aside.

"Naruto, retrieve the suspect's bag and search to see if these guys have any weapons on them," one ordered the other.

The blonde masked-man jumped and pick up the bag and threw it over to the other side. He then yelled out "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and 4 clones of him burst out of nowhere.

"_Is that another kind of devil fruit?" _considered Robin as she stared at one of the captors duplicating himself.

"_Usopp was right! They are monsters_!" panicked Chopper.

"_Luffy and the others will save all of us, and these guys will pay!" _Nami threatened in her mind. _"No matter what weird moves and powers they may have, Luffy, Sanji-kun, and Zoro will beat them!"_

"Oi!" yelled out Usopp. "How…, weren't you guys just searching our ship? How did you get here so quickly?" Yes, Usopp was scared, but he was also confused. None of this made sense. _"Are these guys even human?"_

"Sorry, it'll be too troublesome to explain such a simple plan to a group of invaders," the pony-tailed masked-man stated.

The four clones suddenly poofed into the air once they were finishing searching the four captured Straw Hats. The blonde brought back Nami's Clima-tact and Chopper's Rumble Balls.

"Wait! We're not invaders! We just somehow came here from the Grand Line. We plan no harm. We're just planning to rest here for the night and then leave in the morning," pleaded Nami.

"Sorry, I don't plan on believing anything you guys have to say till you're brought to the interrogation room," he said as he turned around. They, in turn, also turned around and now faced his back as they were marching forward through unknown territory.

"_Luffy, Sanji-kun, Zoro, rescue us!"_

-SCENE-

"_They don't look like anybody that's in Akatsuki. They could be from Sound, but I can't believe that either. They just look like normal civilians that are a little bit under-dressed. But this can all be a cover-up. I'll just let old man Morino Ibiki find out who they really are…," _thought Shikamaru. He continued walking at a casual pace, with his shadow locking onto their's, making them copy his every movement.

Naruto was behind them, watching them to make sure that they didn't do anything suspicious. Of course, Shikamaru's ultimate Kage Mane no Jutsu disabled them from doing that, but you can never be too sure.

"Do you guys know anything about Akatsuki or Orochimaru?" Naruto asked them. He knew they can easily lie about what information they had, but still he wanted some kind of answers, even if they were false.

"No, we don't…," the black-haired woman began before the long-nosed guy interrupted.

"Uh, yes! We are very good friends of Ashusiki and or Orochoram…, them. Yep, you should let us free, because Ashu… they will be very displeased if they knew you captured and imprisoned us!"

Naruto sighed at his obvious bluff. _"They didn't even say their names right…"_

Soon, they arrived at Konoha. As soon as they reached the gate, other shinobi came and tied up the four suspects and dragged them off to prison (obviously Shikamaru released his jutsu by then).

Shikamaru stretched as he stared up at the sky. "Wanna go get some ramen or anything?"

"Yeah, sure!" The thought of ramen at Ichiraku's already made Naruto's mouth drool.

While they were eating at the ichiraku Ramen stand, Naruto brought the subject of the suspects up again. He had doubts on if they were really enemies. They just look like normal regular people to his eyes. "I think they are innocent. I mean, they didn't seem like they knew anything about Akatsuki or Orochimaru…"

"Yeah, and they did allow us to catch them too easily. I didn't expect anybody from Akatsuki to fall for such a simple diversion with your shadow clones. But I say their actions are either a little too suspicious or too innocent… How troublesome…"

"Well if we think they are innocent, don't you think we should tell obaa-chan to go a little easier on them," Naruto suggested. He didn't want others to get hurt, because of their misjudgment. It seemed too cruel, and he always loyally followed his way of the ninja, even if it intersects with the rules of the common shinobi.

"We've done our part, plus I'm not 100 positive on their innocence either. We'll let Ibiki decide, since he's more of a professional than any of us."

"I guess you're right…"

-SCENE-

"Luffy, they're not here!" told Zoro after he was searching around the campsite.

It was around midnight by now and still no signs of their nakama. The remaining Straw Hats have been searching for nearly an hour now, in hopes of finding them accidentally wandering off or something. But no, that wasn't the case. All three men had a feeling that their disappearance wasn't a voluntary one too.

"My sweet Nami-swaan and Robin-chwaan must've been captured. Those bastards!" Sanji shouted out in an outburst of rage. He spin-kicked a tree nearby, knocking it over to the ground.

"Let's go kick some ass to rescue them then!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: A Reckless Rescue**

"Before we start the official rescue, do we even know which direction they went?" asked Zoro as he looked around. They were surrounded by trees and bushes and two roads intersect each otheron where they stood, which meant 4 possible paths.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright!" Luffy said with a goofy grin.

"_There he goes being groundless again…," _both the cook and the swordsman thought in unison. It was going to be a while before they can actually reach the people they're supposed to rescue, that's for sure.

-SCENE-

Once the sun was about to rise up into the sky again, the captured Straw Hat Pirates were finally released. They left the building that held the vicious interrogation room with exhausted faces.

"Jeez, you would think that saying we had no affiliation with whatever that organization was a thousand times would make them lift their suspicion off of us, but no! They just extended it to 3 more hours!" Nami complained. She was fed up with how she was treated and now just wanted to go sleep on a nice bed.

"That Ibiki guy is lucky that I didn't get serious!" Usopp roared loudly in an obvious bluff. "Man, Chopper you had it so lucky. They just thought you were our pet!"

Chopper had a satisfied look on his face, while he patted his stomach. "They have good food here. Luffy would love it!" he said with a laugh.

"Talking about Luffy, I think it is best if we head back, or the rest would be worried," considered Robin as she looked toward the direction that they were dragged from.

"No way! That tough, blonde lady apologized and gave us tons of coupons for all their shops, so I intend to make worth of it all for being dragged through all this hassle!" Nami declared. She wasn't going to let those 5-6 hours of meaningless questions go to waste. She had to make a profit out of this situation or she wouldn't feel right. "They'll probably find us here in…, what was this village called again?"

"Konoha, if I remembered correctly…," stated Robin. She then turned her head and stared at somebody walked past her.

"Mask-san…," she stated.

The blonde man stopped with a sweat dropped from his face. "Eh…, how did you know?"

"I have a keen sense of observation, so I know that you were one of the guys that captured us…" she said matter-of-factly. She didn't show any kind of anger or hatred in her tone, she just pointed it out casually.

"WHAT? So, you're one of those guys that made us put up with all of this. Soon, you will fear the wrath of Captain Usopp!" the long-nosed sharpshooter cried out loudly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about all of that. Please don't shun upon the actions of Konoha because of this," he said with a bow.

-SCENE-

Naruto bowed down apologetically at the people he mistaken as enemies. He truly was sorry for what he did.

"Mask-san, you also helped us get freed earlier than scheduled, so it's kind of even," the black hair woman mentioned.

"How did you know?" he asked. She should've been in a cell or interrogation room when he came in to asked for a pardon for the prisoners. Those areas were very far off from where he was at.

"I have my ways of listening to conversations from a distance," she said with a slight smile.

"Hey guy, you know any good places where I can cash in some of these coupons?" the orange-haired girl asked rudely as she showed him the gift Tsunade had given them to make up for their recent mistake. Of course, her current nature is only reasonable. He sure as hell knew he wouldn't be one happy camper after spending over five hours with that creepy Morino Ibiki.

"Well, you guys must be starving. I know a great place to eat," Naruto started with a wide grin. He joined into the center of the group and decided to show them around town. "Oh yeah, I'm Uzumaki Naruto by the way."

-SCENE-

Soon the time reached when Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji finally entered the right village. What bad luck to have to go 4 out of 4 possible paths to finally reach the right one. One path led to a very big body of water (perhaps the ocean). They decided to travel across it last if it comes to that point. The other path just led to a dead end. The most recent path that they took led them to a small quiet mountain town. Before the Luffy could come in, wreaking havoc upon the town before examination, the other two stopped him and persuaded him to calm down. They searched around the town, but it seemed like a quiet place with not much activity involving gangs, army, or anything of a threat. But their questioning also led to another clue, Konoha.

"This is the place, right?" Luffy asked as he stared down at the front gate. The gate was huge and a couple of men guarded it. He had a serious look on his face and was ready to burst into action.

"Yep, Konoha, alright. Do we have a plan?" Sanji asked. He turned toward the captain to see how they were to infiltrate the place, but then he was already gone! Suddenly, a huge crash came from in front of them. There stood Luffy and huge gate that had just fallen over. Stick the two together and you can see what happened.

"THE IDIOT ALREADY BROKE DOWN THE FRONT GATE!" he shouted as he dropped his jaw in disbelief. They'll be facing a whole gang of highly skilled ninjas before long now.

Zoro smirked and continued forward at a casual pace. "That's our captain. Didn't expect him to act any other way."

-SCENE-

"What was that?" Neji responded once he heard the sound of a huge crash. He immediately activated his bloodline ability, Byakugan, to see what was in store ahead of them. His vision zoomed in on three suspicious men. One had a straw hat on with a red shirt. The other wore a plain white shirt, equipped with 3 swords, and a hachimaki covered his green hair. The third had a tuxedo suit on with blond hair with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"So, Neji?" Rock Lee asked calmly as he stretched his body.

"Three guys just came barging through the front gate on the east side. We should hurry," he told.

"Wait, wait. Do all of us need to go? I'm sure the other chuunins and jounins positioned there can handle the problem," said Tenten. She was in the middle of her breakfast and wasn't in the mood to fight just yet.

"Hanging around Shikamaru too much has made you grown lazy, Tenten," Lee said with a smirk.

"What? It was only one date, and he's such a boring guy! Anyways, let's hurry over to the scene. I don't want to keep the intruders waiting," she said, avoiding the topic brought up by her comrade. She re-attached her pouch to her belt and swiftly jumped from building to building to reach the front gate where the three intruders were at.

"Osss! I hope these guys are strong. If not, they have attacked the wrong village!" Lee said with a boost of confidence. Then he dashed forward at an unbelievable speed.

"_Lee's just as confident as ever," _thought Neji with a slight smile. He was about to advance over also, but the waiter immediately stopped him.

"Hey, I'm not letting any more shinobi go without paying the bill!"

"Sorry." He pulled out some cash, sorted it, and gave the appropriate amount of cash plus tip while still looking forward. Ah, the convenience of 360 vision. Then without warning, he jumped up high to the rooftop of a building nearby and decreased distance between himself and the destination point, where the new enemies lied.

-SCENE-

Luffy was pulling on most of the stops for these ninjas. "I don't see what's the big deal there are for ninjas? They're so weak," he commented as his right leg stretched long for the next attack. "Gomu Gomu no Muchi!" The circle that surrounded him immediately fell down to their rears.

"That's what happens when we are underestimated," Zoro replied with a confident smirk. All shurikens and kunais that were thrown toward him were immediately split in half with the assistance of Yubashiri.

"You shitheads should stop overrating yourselves. This is only the appetizer so far. I'm sure the main dish hasn't come yet…," Sanji yelled back at them. When the enemies started crowding around him, he dropped to a handstand position and spin-kicked all the enemies that dared to stand near him. After the surrounding enemies fell unconscious, he popped back to his feet and lit a cigarette. But before he can take one puff of it, a quick blur of green knocked it out of his mouth with a strong kick to the jaw. Sanji fell to the ground on his side as he looked up at the new enemy.

"You shouldn't smoke, it's bad for you," the green jump-suit man commented as he got into a fighting stance of one arm in the back and the other in the front while bent and pointing up. Of course the most noticeable feature was…

"_What's with his eyebrows and haircut…"_

"I know a regular kick like that is not enough to hold you down. So why don't you get up and continue this?" he continued.

Sanji pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off. "Well, let's see who have better kicks. You or me?"

"Osss! Let's make this a good fight then."

-SCENE-

"Ah, Lee, he's always so reckless," Tenten observed on a rooftop. She wanted to make sure what she was getting into before she entered this fight. And the situation seemed almost like unreal. Their opponents were tough ones, that's for sure.

"The green-haired one is a powerful swordsman, the straw hat guy was using some kind of jutsu to stretch his body and he's very strong on top of that, and the cute blonde that Lee's handling seem to do pretty fine with only using his legs… They took care of the chuunins stationed near the gate pretty quick, so it's not ridiculous to say that they're near jounin-level, and maybe even beyond that."

"Regardless of their strengths, we will stop them here and now," Neji said from behind her.

Tenten jumped from the voice that just came out of nowhere, according to her. "You should give me a warning before you arrive!" she yelled softly at him.

"I'll take care of the stretchy one and you can take care of the…"

-SCENE-

"Marimo! I'm done!" Luffy yelled out cheerfully after he finished his group of ninjas. "I'm going to go on ahead to find Nami and others!"

"Since when did you start calling me, marimo?" Zoro cried out in comical anger.

"I just did. Are you a baka or something?" he asked.

"Just go!"

As Luffy started running eastward, a figure came from up top, ready to attack him. Zoro saw this and was about to warn his nakama, but a female ninja landed appropriately in front of him.

"You made a wrong choice when you guys decided to invade Konoha!"

Meanwhile, on Luffy's side, a quick figure landed behind him and forearms him hard in the back of the neck. Luffy fell forward while tumbling on the ground. In mid-roll, he immediately recovered and got back on his feet.

"I guess I have to kick your ass if I want to get to my nakama, right?"

"Your story ends here!"

-SCENE-

Three major fights have just broken out all around the east gate. In one area, in front of the east gate, stand both Sanji and Rock Lee. A cook prepared to take down a whole village for his precious female nakama and a hardworking ninja who will do whatever it takes to take down whatever threats toward Konoha.

In another, there are Tenten, the female ninja ready to prove why she has been a successful jounin sensei for 2 years now, and Zoro, whose dream to become the best swordsman and prepared to face the obstacles that come with it.

And there is of course, the last battle of the three and possibly the biggest. ANBU captain at jounin rank versus the future Pirate King and leader of the well known Straw Hat Pirates. Who will be left standing?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Defense-Rescue Clash**

"Don't think I'm going to go easy on you, because you're a woman," Zoro warned as he pulled out his other two swords, Wadou Ichimounji and Sandai Kitetsu. He placed one of the katana in his mouth, getting into the Santouryuu style of fighting.

"You plan on fighting with three swords? That's a first," Tenten said.

"Trust me, if this goes well, it'll be the last for you also!" Zoro yelled out. He rushed in like a predator, ready to take out the prey.

Tenten started flipping back as she pulled out weapons to use. First, she tossed two kunais. Zoro did a cross slash to cut it into two. A third kunai was hidden in the shadow, and Zoro barely dodged it by jumping into the side.

He was about to continue his dash again, but a yell out from the front gate direction abruptly stopped him.

"Melllooooriiinne! Zoro, if you hurt her one bit, I swear I'll kill you! Ughhh!" Sanji said, right before he received a quick blow from the enemy.

"Pay attention to your own damn fight, moron!" Zoro yelled back.

At that one moment of distraction, Tenten closed in on him with her Sansetsukon (three-sectional staff). She jumped up and smacked him hard at the side of the neck. Zoro's focus immediately returned as he side-stepped unbalancedly from the blow. Regardless, he still retaliated with a swing of sword. He connected with the side of her shoulder, but the wound wasn't too deep to create any considerable damage. They immediately retreated to create distance between themselves again.

Zoro rubbed his neck and started to commentate on her attack. "I admit that that hit did hurt, but do you really think you can take me down with a stick?"

"I have other toys to play with as well, just be patient," the kunoichi replied with a smirk as she rubbed her small wound that she had just received from the green-haired swordsman.

"You're lucky I didn't attack you with my Sandai Kitetsu. That katana wouldn't have been as forgiving."

"I'm sorry, but baseless threats mean nothing to a shinobi."

Out of nowhere, she launched 10 shurikens, accurately at the swordsman. Zoro hid behind his katana to shield himself from the flying ninja stars. When he got back up, he saw Tenten once again ready for a close-ranged fright. But during the time of distraction from the flying projectiles, she had already switched her main weapon of choice for two batons.

"_She's pretty fast…"_

She flipped around the baton and then went in for a hit, but Zoro blocked with the weapon that was in his mouth. They struggled for the upper hand as they struck up a conversation.

"Where are you hiding the rest of us?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not the one that should be interrogated right now. What's your affiliation?"

"My affiliation is with that idiot captain. Answer my question!"

"Hmph, I guess we have to do it the tough way to get an answer out of you."

"Be my guest!"

She then spun in 360 degrees to land a hard hit to the katana, pushing Zoro back. Zoro immediately recovered and jumped up. He point out his two katanas in his hands and dropped back down to where Tenten stood. She blocked the hit with two baton-equipped hands. But as she fended off against those two weapons, another weapon was left free and opened to attack. He attacked her with the dull side of the blade in his mouth, while making her fall back. Zoro came in for a full Santouryuu assault while she was left open from the last attack.

"Hyou Kin Dama!"

Tenten dropped to the ground with many cuts and bruises on her body. With the wounds she just received, her condition soon became fatal.

"I have no further business with you," Zoro said as he sheathed his three katanas.

To much surprise, Tenten still stood back up, prepared to fight some more. She barely had the strength to stand back up, but her determination gave her the power to continue. "Don't think I'm done yet. I won't give in to you till I drop unconscious or die!"

"Fine, I guess that's what I have to do then!" He then pulled out his Wadou Ichimounji to finish the job.

"_I guess it wasn't a bad idea to borrow Shikamaru's thing after all," _she thought as she closed her eyes. Right at that moment, a blinding light filled the area where they stood.

Zoro immediately covered his eyes with his arm out of basic instinct. _"Damn, she must've slipped one of those ninja bombs after I hit her with Oni Giri. Now she has the chance to attack me again!"_

The light soon faded away, and Zoro immediately looked in front of him at where the kunoichi once stood. _"Where did she go?"_ he thought while looked around.

"Up here!" Tenten shouted out. The pirate swordsman immediately looked up and saw the female up in the air, immersed with two long scrolls.

She yelled out, "Soushouryu!" right before she started gently spinning around while pulling weapons out of them and throwing it at him very precisely. In the early go, Zoro had an easy time defending against the weapon parade, but it started going faster and more kept coming at him. _"Where the hell is she stacking these stuff?" _he thought as he knock flying weapon after flying weapon. _"Damn, I don't have time to pull out my other two swords or I would have a better chance against this weird technique."_

However, the defense didn't last long. Once he got distracted by a movement of weapons dropped near his feet (due to Tenten's chakra strings), a full blown assault invaded him from every corner. After the deadly Rising Twin Dragon technique, Zoro dropped to his knees, covered all over with deep cuts and bruises. He tried to get back up, but fell flat on his face upon attempt. He was knocked out cold.

Tenten wasn't the clear victor either though. Her momentum ended once she finished the execution of her jutsu, and she dropped to the ground roughly, slowly turning unconscious.

DOUBLE KNOCKOUT!

-SCENE-

The fight has been on for a while now. Like a true old-fashioned ninja, Lee started the battle with another one of his, "Here I come!" to show his sportsmanship and confidence in his abilities. Sanji has been on the losing battle since he left his guard open. Lee's agility really has been too much for this pirate to stand.

"_Shit, he's too goddam quick…"_ Sanji thought as he looked around him. Right then and there, Rock Lee re-appeared in front of the cook and planted his feet across his chest. Sanji stepped back from the impact and immediately counter, but Lee disappeared once again.

He held his chest as he stood defensively and waited for the shinobi to strike once again. _"There's no way I can compete with him blow for blow at this pace, so I'll bring him down to my level!"_

"Konoha Reppuu!" yelled Lee. Sanji quickly turned and saw a leg sweep targeting his legs. The attack connected to him as he dropped to the floor. Before the Green Beast of Konoha can capitalize though, he used his legs to clamp tightly onto his opponent.

"Not what you were expecting, huh?" he asked with a smirk. Next, he kicked his right knee and left ankle in succession to cause Lee to bend in a "proposal" type of stance. He then land two kicks on the jaw of the enemy to knock him back. Sanji quickly rebounded back up and allowed no opening for Lee to work with.

"Poitrine Shoot!" "Joue Shoot!" "Flanchet!"

After the combo of accurately placed kicks from the pirate cook, Lee was up in the air, brutally attacked, and dropped down again. Sanji watched on to see if his opponent was able to take any more of a beating. Apparently, he was…

"You indeed have very strong kicks. I commend you for that. But if that's the only "dish" you're offering, you're making a big mistake…"

"'_Dish' Who the hell use those stupid puns anymore?"_ Sanji thought in disgust. He immediately shook off the irrelevant matter and entered into a fighting stance, which made Lee to also follow.

"Osss! Konoha Senpuu!"

"Troisième Haché!"

"Konoha Shoufuu!"

"Reception!"

"Dynamic Entry!"

"Shishinabe Shot!"

"Konoha Daisenpuu!"

"Veau Shot!"

"Konoha Gouriki Senpuu!"

After dodging many powerful kicks, their final attack finally connected simultaneously, knocking both warriors back and badly bruised. They seem down for the count, but their resolve gave them more reason to stand back up again.

"Not bad…"

"Same to you…"

They were about to start up again, regardless of how tired they already were, but a voice heard near them put a halt on what they were doing.

-SCENE-

"_I have to act quickly and not allow him room to breathe. I won't give him any openings, but I can't act reckless also… Just another day," _Neji planned out as he stared at the straw hat man.

"Before we start, state your name and business with Konoha!" the Byakugan master demanded.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy…, and I'm here to kick your ass!" the enemy yelled. Then he stretched his arm back for a couple of yards, winding up for the next attack. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

A fist launched back forward toward Neji. It barely missed him as he jumped to the side to avoid the weird attack. "Byakugan!" he shouted out. Veins popped to the sides of his eyes, as he began to scan the enemy. If he were to confront such an enemy, he would do it with extreme expertise.

"Are you trying to scare me with those eyes? Don't bet on it!" Luffy shouted back as he ran up close to Neji. He dashed to the pole aside him and started pulling back with his arms stretching more and more as he stepped back, preparing for a catapult-like assault. "Gomu Gomu no Rocket!" He launched forward at an extremely quick speed toward Neji, but this time he was prepared against the attack.

"Kaiten!" He spun around with his arms out, creating a vortex-like defense against the oncoming enemy.

"Gomu Gomu no Fuusen!" He breathed in a lot of air to turn into a large round figure, to slow down the speed he was heading toward Neji. He eventually stopped before running into Neji.

"Oh yeah, Gomu Gomu no…, Ono!" He stretched a leg long into the air and crashed it down like an axe to Neji's head. He immediately stopped his Kaiten, and prepared to intercept the dropping leg. As he caught it, it pushed him hard into the ground, causing the road beneath him to crumble. His knees bent as the force crushed him more and more.

"_It seems I underestimated the strength of the enemy, but that isn't enough to take me out!" _Neji thought with increasing determination, a trait he had learned from Naruto. He slowly grab tight of the leg and tried to stand back straight. He struggled for a bit, but managed to do it. Then he used all his strength and gave a powerful tug on it, causing the straw hat invader to come back toward him.

Then Neji got into a familiar stance at the careless oncoming enemy. "Hakke Hyaku Nijuuha Shou!" As he was ready to launch the first Eight Trigram palm, Luffy prepared himself just in time.

"Gomu Gomu no Fuusen!"

Unknowingly, Neji still continued his onslaught, but he wasn't sure if he was damaging the enemy or not. _"What kind of shield is this? It's like I'm attacking a rubber ball…" _Before he finished his 128 palms, he jumped back and got back onto the defense.

"_He's not like most guys I faced. His experience in battle is nothing to be thought little of. Plus his offense and defense are tricky to handle against. It's hard to aim for tenketsu points to slow him down if they are shielded with that Fuusen maneuver."_

"Hey, stop poking me and let's fight seriously! Gomu Gomu no…," he shouted out.

"_I'll have to come at him unexpected then,"_ Neji decided. Neji then dashed straight at him with several shurikens out.

"Pistol!"

He tossed the projectiles, watching a pair cut up Luffy's launching fist and another curving toward Luffy's head.

The shurikens did slash up his fist, but it didn't retract and still had a destination point on the Hyuuga's face. Neji grinned as he jumped up and landed on the stretched arm as it was coming at him. He ran quickly on it, going toward Luffy's end.

Luffy was about to prepared another "stretched-out" attack with his other arm, but the shurikens distracted him for a slight second as he dodged it by stretching his neck to the side. When he brought his head back to its original position, it was already too late. He was already within striking range.

He thrusts his palm in front of Luffy's face and then said, "Hakke Kusho!"

"Gomu Gomu no Kane!"

Both attacks collided instantaneously. As the chakra waves pushed and slashed the face of Luffy's, he struggled forward and gave a powerful headbutt to Neji's forehead (covered by his hitai-ate, of course). Both fell back and rolled vigorously across the ground. But not before long, they got back up to their feet. Although they were hurt from each other's powerful blows, they weren't nowhere near their limit.

"_Even with this forehead protector, he did a considerable damage to my head," _Neji analyzed as he stared down the enemy.

"Gah! That hurts! Did you eat the Ban Ban fruit or something (bankin metal)? And all those scratches you made on my face too!" Luffy cried out comically as he started rubbing his head. Obviously, he didn't notice the hitai-ate Neji was wearing.

Before they would start again, a call came out to stop them.

"STOP!"

**Author's Notes: **Well for the attack names, just search for it on Wikipedia. For One Piece attacks, you can search for "one piece abilities" and for Naruto attacks, you can just search for "naruto" plus type of attack (ex: ninjutsu, taijutsu). Oh, and before you guys complain about how incomplete the fight was, my excuse is that good guys shouldn't get too serious when fighting each other.

Also, to my one reviewer, no I didn't group them together due to the eyebrows. I just found that they were a perfect pair to put up against each other out of all of the Gai team.

Anyways, read, review, and enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Truce **

Ino just departed Hokage's office with swift speed as she was nearing her objective point.

(flashback)

"_I hear there's a problem regarding our recent arrest that has built up a mess near the front gate. Ino, I want you to go there ASAP and clear up the situation. This will be your first assignment as jounin!"_

"_WHAT? I passed the jounin exam?!?!?"_

"_Yes. Now hurry, before the situation elevates even worse."_

"_Hai!"_

(/flashback)

"_Finally, all that tough work wasn't put to waste. I can't believe I'm jounin!!! Anyways, I should concentrate on the mission. Our recent capture involved three mysterious suspects plus a pet bear…, I think. Although their appearance and arrival is skeptical, they were declared innocent by Ibiki-san in the end. If Godaime believes that the problem occurring now is related to that, then it must be their friends. I better try to stop them before they can cause any more trouble."_

With her priorities cleared, she sped up in hopes of reaching the front gate in time.

-SCENE-

"Melllooooriiinne! If you want me to stop, I will," Sanji shouted in lovey-dobey mode.

The blonde in front of him was of absolute beauty to him. She had long beautiful blonde hair. The purple outfit she wore definitely fit with her features and darling blue eyes. Sanji was love struck…, just like many of the other girls he encountered.

-SCENE-

"Ino. Why did you stop us?" Lee was confused. It was very inappropriate to stop mid-battle when in confrontation with the enemy. He planned to just ignore her, but neglected his gut feeling for the sake of following the shinobi way.

"There's a whole misunderstanding about all of this. There's…," she said before she stopped herself. She glanced over and saw her latest chuunin boyfriend on the ground, knocked out cold.

She immediately ran over to him and bent down beside him. She lifted him up to her knee and observed in horror the bruises on him.

"Wh…, who did this?" she asked in a cold dark voice.

-SCENE-

Sanji watched as he saw the beautiful female slow evolve into something more dark. Although he still found her very charming, her silent anger spooked him immensely.

"I'm sorry. I think I accidentally kicked him several times. But it's okay. If you want, I can be…," he said before the environment around slowly faded away.

He soon found himself in an open field with hills and hills of grass. Then a giant devil-like titan popped out of the ground all of a sudden.

"What the hell?" It then grabbed his whole body with one hand. The giant figure grinned viciously as it squeezed the life out of this poor cook. Sanji could do nothing but shriek as the pain of crushed bones developed all over his body.

-SCENE-

Rock Lee observed as he saw his opponent and comrade both froze. He managed to catch Ino doing some handseals right before they ended up paralyzed.

Rock Lee crossed his legs while sitting down and began to concentrate. He put on his thinking cap and started analyzing what was going on. _"Now let me see. What does this mean? Although I don't know much about ninjutsu or genjutsu, the handseals she used look very similar... Wait, if I'm correct, it looks something similar to Shintenshin no Jutsu… Oh yeah! She used it on a mission once when I was teamed up with her. It's Shintenshin Genkaku_ (Illusion)_ no Jutsu. It can get very ugly if she gets creative… Although about now, he would be bedridden for at least two weeks, I better stop before it gets any worse."_

Then the shinobi in the green spandex suit walked over and started shaking Ino to get her to snap out of it. He noticed that she came to stop the fight, so it didn't make much sense if she ended up killing him.

"Kill! Kill!" she shouted right before she realized where she was again. She then held her aching head and stared at Lee. "What did you do that for?"

Lee pointed at the victim and they saw that their blonde opponent was on the floor, writhing in pain. "What? He deserved it. What's-his-name was planning a surprise birthday party for me and now look at what that guy did to him!"

-SCENE-

Sanji immediately recovered back to normal once he realized it was some elaborate ninja trick. He stood back up and dusted himself off. He turned to the blonde kunoichi with a seductive smile. "So how about dinner some time?"

The ninjas just stared at him in awe. "What? Is something on my face?"

-SCENE-

Ino was in a state of shock. Although her technique was only a trick of the mind, it can cause serious damage. Especially with her fueling anger back there. But this guy was able to take all of that and some. For some reason, the blonde guy didn't look so shabby right now…

Before he can distract her any longer, she turned and saw Neji and his opponent still fighting fiercely. "Oh crap! Uh, what should I do now?" she panicked. She then turned to the taijutsu master and he gave an immediate nod.

"I know Neji, and if the opponent isn't slowing down, neither will he. It will be a tough task holding him back, let alone the other person…"

"Don't worry. I'll handle my idiot captain. But before that, may I ask your name? I'm Sanji." the man asked earnestly.

"Very well then. I'm Rock…"

"Don't care," he curtly replied as he pushed him away to get closer to the other person present in the area that wasn't knocked unconscious. He held the female's hand and looked into her eyes. "What's your name?"

Lee crouched down surrounded by an aura of depression for being ignored. "Somehow I now know how Naruto feels in his earlier years…"

"Uh…," she replied speechless while blushing slightly. "I'm…," she was about to introduce herself before battle cries came from where Neji and the straw hat man stood.

-SCENE-

"Gomu Gomu no Senjukannon!"

"Hakke Rokujuuyon Kuushou (Eight Trigrams: 64 Empty Palms)!"

Before the explosion of fists and palm erupted, two human cyclones quickly dashed to the scene, and captured each man's hands before they were launched in full power.

"Good job, Akamaru!" said Kiba, while staring back at his pet that was still in Juujin Bunshin form. Akamaru barked proudly as he held the suspect's hands tightly.

"What do you think you're doing?" Neji asked irritated.

"I was walking by and I heard a 'STOP', so I felt it was my place to stop you two."

"Man, you stink," the straw hat man rudely said to the figure that confined him rather tightly. Akamaru growled at him ferociously, Luffy started growling threateningly back.

"Good job, Kiba!" Ino yelled as she ran over. Once she got there, she stood in front of the two and began to explain. "It's all a misunderstanding…"

-SCENE-

"Ah I see! So wait, are you guys still the bad guys?" asked a confused Luffy right before he slurped down another ramen bowl.

"For the fiftieth time Luffy, no!" told an impatient Sanji. They just got through with all of the introductions and the situation was explained. Sure there were some mysterious aspects of the situation, but they agreed to deal with it another time. "I mean, how can such beautiful women be a part of some evil village?" he commented as he stared obviously at the two kunoichi with a heart full of love. It was night after all, maybe he has the opportunity to be with a girl overnight…, or 2!

Ino blushed, while Tenten decided to change the subject. "Will your green hair friend be all right? I hope I didn't hurt him too bad," said Tenten who was still bearing lot of wounds herself.

"Zoro? No, he's just sleeping. Another bowl of ramen, please!" called out Luffy. He was eating bowl after bowl, while Ino was regretting that she decided to treat them.

"_If I knew this guy ate like Chouji or Naruto, I should've said to each their own…"_

Sanji noticed her staring at her money with a look of concern and he knew what the gentleman-like thing to do was. "Don't worry. I'll cover it, Ino-swaaaan!"

"Are you sure? I mean you guys are guests of Konoha and it wouldn't be right to ask for such a thing," she replied. Of course, that was an obvious lie. She was planning to save some cash for this new beauty product she has been wanting.

"No problem at all," he said with his heart fluttering. "Check, please!"

"I'm not full yet," Luffy complained as he rubbed his stomach.

Sanji decided it was best to explain it to him privately, so he dragged him aside and started whispering. "We can't allow these beautiful ladies to pay for our meals. I mean, we can do almost anything with them if they're happy with us!" Sanji replied before he started fantasizing his erotic dreams.

"I don't get it…"

"C'mon. You may be dumb, but how can you NOT know what I'm talking about."

"I still don't get it…"

Infuriated by his lack of manly desires, he now decided it was best to explain it to him a different way. With a solid kick to the head!

"Understand now?"

"Hai…"

Sanji slowly pranced back to the ramen stand and restated what he said before. "Check, please!"

Ayame (the daughter of the ramen stand owner) came out of the back after her short break. "Hai, hai!" she responded.

"Melllllllorrrine!" he cried as he spun around filled with love at first sight.

"That'll be 500 ryou (just making up some random number here, seeing that I don't know how this unit of money converts to U.S dollars)."

"500 beli, that's pretty cheap. Very pretty…," he said in a daze.

"Beli?" Ayame asked.

"What's a ryou? Does it taste good?" asked Luffy after recovering a vicious blow.

"Wow. I guess it's safe to say that you guys are really from out of town… Hell, out of this world! I never heard of a place that used _beli _before!" Tenten commented.

"_Damn, I guess I have to pay after all," _Ino realized as she reluctantly pulled out money from her purse.

-SCENE-

"Ah, so you guys use ryou currency here. Where we're from we use beli," said Usopp as he walking along the sidewalk with Nami, Robin, Chopper, and their tour guy, Naruto. _"Where the heck are we? Maybe I'm still dreaming…"_

"Well whatever currency, I love it here!" cried Nami happily. She had bags and bags of purchased necessities, as she called it, which was being all held by Chopper. "Let's try that place next!"

"Nami, I don't think I can carry anymore…"

"Suck it up Chopper. Although the day is near its closing, we still have many shops to visit. We can't let this free money go to waste!" she said as she held out all her coupons.

Naruto laughed as he offered to help with carrying the stuff, but Nami insisted Chopper can handle it. She didn't want a few items to accidentally go missing now.

"And right there is the Ichiraku ramen stand I was talking about earlier. It has the best ramen around," he said cheerfully.

"Well, I guess I'm kinda hungry. How about you guys?" Nami asked.

"Of course! We've been asking you if we can go eat the whole time for ten hours," Usopp cried while he was suffering the pains of hunger.

"Yeah!" Chopper agreed with the purchases he's carrying covering his face.

"Well, if you wanted to eat so much, why didn't you guys go wander off in your own, while I was busy shopping," she suggested with a wicked stare.

"No! After hearing about all those ninja-type moves, we'll die once we go on our own!" freaked out the coward sharpshooter.

"Yeah!" shouted out the humanized reindeer, who always seemed to be easily influenced by Usopp's words.

"Don't tell me the great Captain Usopp-sama is afraid of a little bit of ninjas," mocked Nami cruelly.

"What? No I can take on thousands of them at a time. I'm just worried for your safety…"

As they bounce back cries and replies, Naruto found it was best to intervene. "Ramen, it is!"

"Yay!" cheered Usopp and Chopper.

"Actually, I'm more interested in knowing more about this village. Don't mind me, I'll walk around," said Robin.

"Okay then! We'll meet you back at that hotel we have a coupon for. You remember where it is?"

"Yes, I do," she replied as she walked away.

As they came closer to the ramen stand Naruto has been talking about, they immediately noticed two familiar faces.

"Hey, look! It's Luffy and Sanji," Chopper said cheerfully. He noticed them stand outside the stand, taking to each other privately. He was about to run over to then, but Usopp immediately held him back.

"It could be a trick. Don't you remember what he (points to Naruto) said about that Henge no Jutsu thingy. It could be an imposter!" warned Usopp.

"An imposter!?!??!"

"You're being an idiot," the navigator stated matter-of-factly.

"Hmmm, it's possible," Naruto replied with a thinking face on.

"Oh yeah. Fine, but if they ARE fakes, once we go to sleep, they'll slit our throats off!"

Chopper jumped while Nami still stayed calm. "Yeah, okay…," she said sarcastically.

"And then they'll steal EVERYTHING," he added.

Nami now jumped and dragged everybody to the side, so the possible imposters wouldn't notice them.

"What do we do then?" Chopper panicked.

"We'll have Naruto beat them up!" suggested Usopp.

"Yeah! I could grab him from being with my clones and then…," Naruto added as him and Usopp shared a wicked grin.

"No, no, guys. We should check if they're really fakes first. Let's just get a little closer and see how they behave," Nami told them.

They agreed with her more reasonable and snuck up close slowly just within hearing range.

"Eh?!?!? Sanji just kick Luffy. He is a fake!" declared Chopper rather loudly once he saw a leg drop on the back of their captain's head delivered by the cook.

"No, no. Sanji's always kicking Luffy for being his usual slow self. We need more evidence!" stated the orange-haired navigator.

"_Melllllllorrrine!" _

"_What's a ryou? Does it taste good?"_

"That's them alright…," the three stated in embarrassment. They then began to walk toward the ramen stand to meet up with their nakama.

Once they made up their mind, the blonde jinchuuriki made a dash to his favorite place to eat. "Oh hey, Tenten and Ino. You guys are here for the ramen too?" Naruto asked cheerfully as he sat down on a seat. Before they could answer, he immediately ordered ten bowls of ramen.

"Hey, I'm not paying for you too!" shouted Ino.

"Who said anything about me letting you pay for me in the first place?" Naruto shouted back bitterly. Them and their natural enmity never seem to have worn off these past 7 years.

"Hey, you! That's no way to speak to a…," Sanji began before he saw his missing nakama again. "Nami-swaaaan! I missed you so much!!!!!" he cried as he ran to grab her. Since Usopp and Chopper were in front of her, he knocked them away so he can make a way to his favorite navigator.

"Oi, oi, oi," they said in unison bitterly. "We were missing too, you know…"

He just ignored them while he attempt to affectionately hug from Nami. Unfortunately, her natural self defense didn't allow him to get so far. She kicked him in the nuts before he had a chance. He fell over to the ground while writhing in pain. However, his

"I missed you too," she coldly replied as she stepped over him.

"Yo Nami," Luffy said as he watching intensely at Naruto eating.

"I'll get a bowl of ramen, please!" called Nami as she arranged her coupons. "So Luffy, have you been causing trouble. I see you have some bruises and cuts on you..."

"Yep. I fought with this white eyeball guy and I would've kicked his ass too, but a smelly guy that later turned into a dog stopped us from continuing."

"Oh, you must be talking about Neji and Kiba. Hmmm, although Kiba do tend to pick a lot of fights, Neji usually doesn't. You did something wrong?" Naruto asked as he started eating his third bowl.

"Well, I did break down a huge gate and knock out 20-30 something ninjas. Other than that, no."

Nami dropped her jaw, while Naruo just laughed. "Must've been some kind of misunderstanding, huh?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, CAPTAIN? You should stop acting so reckless! I swear I have an idiot for a leader," she commented with a hand on her forehead.

"Don't get so bent over shape about it. Tsunade-obaachan can take care of them, no sweat," he reassured to make her feel better.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Hey Nami, are you going to eat that?"

"Since when do you ask to...," she began before she saw that the the bowl in front of her was gone. "Don't ask if you're not going to wait for an answer!"

Meanwhile, back at Usopp, Chopper, and Sanji...

"Hey, Sanji, I got you something you might like while Nami wasn't looking," Usopp said with a giggle as he pulled out a book.

"A book? What's so special about a book?" he asked as his eyes rolled over to the title. "Icha Icha Paradise Volume 4..."

He began flipping through the pages as his perverted grin started to reveal.

"Ah, volume 4. A truly classic! Chapter 4 have a very nice scene, you know?"

"Oh yeah? I'll turn to it right now!" replied Sanji as he flipped to the suggested chapter. He began blushing, reading, and giggling like a school girl not long afterwards.

"I see you guys are reading my fourth book from the Icha Icha Paradise series. I have to say I enjoy writing this book the most. Lot of interesting research took while I was writing this."

"I can also say I have "interesting" stories of my own while reading this book. Good times..."

"Man, this chapter is too much!" the cook cried happily as he continued reading. "Oh yeah..., who the HELL are you guys!?!?!?" he asked once he realized he was talking to two white haired male strangers, one who happened to have a mask covering most of his face on.

"Ero-sennin! Kakashi-sensei! You guys just came back?" called out the blonde shinobi from the ramen stand.

"Yep!" he said loudly enough fo his disciple to hear. "Don't listen to the brat. I'm known to all as Jiraiya-sama, one of the three Sannins of Konoha and the author of the book you're reading now!" he said as he began one of his wacky poses.

"Yo! I'm Hatake Kakashi." he introduced as he stared at Chopper. "I feel for some shikaniku (deer meat) tonight..."

"Gah!!!! I'm a reindeer, not food!" screamed Chopper as he hid behind Usopp's leg.

-SCENE-

A figure hidden in the shadows was smoking a cigar as he stared out the large window. "The moon is lovely tonight, isn't it?" he commented.

A half naked lady that was sitting on his lap and kissing his neck then replied, "Absolutely lovely..."

"I see that the genjutsu I have working for you is working fine," said another woman who just abruptly entered the room. She was wearing a tight navy blue shirt that was very revealing to her cleavage, along with tight black pants and high heels. Her red hair soon shined from the light of tonight's moon.

"Darling, you may go back to your chamber," he softly spoke to the female. She stood back up, put back on her clothes, and left obediently.

"What is it do you have to report, Gamei?" he asked coldly as he adjusted his robe.

"We have a problem with the landing of our new soldiers... They landed hundreds of kilometers off from the assigned destination."

The man started laughing quietly to himself as he stood up to pace around. "I should've known that piece of s would do whatever he can to mess this up for me!" He then kicked the table that was in front of him, sending it crashing through the wide window.

"No need to be so harsh. He was your former best friend now, wasn't he?"

"I should've known his value to Koragen would be degraded to nothing even with the help of your genjutsu!"

"What can I say? Professor Setsui has a strong mind. When he found out this whole operation of justice turned out be a plot of gain gaining world domination...," Gamei began before her boss interupted her.

"No need to say anymore... Anyways, I half-expected some means of betrayal would come from him, even under a powerful spell like yours. We'll just have his former subordinate clean up this mess," he stated as he calmly sat back down.

"General Hayze? Are you sure that middle-aged fat f can handle this? Who knows? He might even end up betraying us in the honor of you sending his sensei to a hospital bed permanently..."

"That bastard is lucky that I still spared his life! Anyways, I happen to know Hayze's motives very well. Setsui told me that he would send his own freaking mother to the grave if that means he will leave a legacy upon exiting this world. I also happen to be the man that can give him such a title. That new serum he and Setsui had been working on should give his unit enough power to do battle with whomever that will stand in our way."

"You do know that it was incomplete before Setsui decided to back out, right? Who the hell knows if Hayze is able to finish the formula for the way it was intended?"

"We'll call it an experiment then. Tell him and his unit to move in the location of the Straw Hat Pirates then. Where are they located again?"

"Konoha."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Dilly-Dallying**

It was around 3 a.m., and Robin strolled around the streets, observing the unique environment around her. Many questions attacked her curiosity, such as "Where are we?", "Is this real", "Who's behind this?" She wasn't sure if she could ever answer these questions, and that's what scared her. She still had an objective, much like all of her nakama, back in the Grand Line. She didn't wish to be side-tracked right now.

As she was distracted by her constant parade of thoughts, she accidentally bumped into somebody, who was happening to be carrying a lot of paperwork.

"S…," Robin began before the other person cut in.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized, although it was more of Robin's fault than her's. Her nature revealed a shy and modest one, which was a rare feeling compared to her nakama. Robin smiled and helped the person up.

The other girl bowed and said, "Thank you." She then began to pick up her stuff.

Multiple arms sprung out of the ground, making the white-eyed girl jump from shock. The arms immediately organized and picked up all the paperwork on the ground and handed it over to the girl.

"Thank you," she said again once her composure was fixed.

"No problem. I'm Nico Robin," she greeted.

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata. Nice to meet you," she replied.

"You must be the person Mask-san mentioned to me."

"Mask-san?"

"Oh, I mean Naruto-kun. I'm part of the crew that was arrested last night."

"Oh I see. I apologize on…," Hinata began but the archaeologist stopped her.

"No need. But I do have a favor to ask," she said.

"If I can be any assistance, then I'll help," she quickly replied.

"Are you not busy then?" Robin asked as she stared the pile of papers that rested on her hands and arms.

"Oh, I'm just doing some mission reports," Hinata said as she gently placed her files on the ground.

"Well, Naruto-kun mentioned to me about you when I started asking him about the history of Konoha and such. He said you would be a better help than he is in that field."

"Naruto said that about me?" she said with a light blush. She immediately shook it off and got back on topic. "I'll try to answer to the best of my ability for any question you may have."

"Thank you. I'll start with…," she began before Hinata interrupted.

"Before we start, I'm kind of curious where you're from. From the reports I recently read, it doesn't really give a straight answer," Hinata boldly asked.

"Fair enough. Here's our situation." Next, Robin explained what happened to her and the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates recently. The details of the warp hole and all.

"Grand Line? I thought don't think we have an ocean called that here….," she replied.

"I suspected so… Is something bothering you?" she asked when she noticed Hinata staring off the distance.

"Well…, I'm just thinking. Maybe we can find some clues on your clothing. If you don't mind, I can scan your clothes with my Byakugan," she suggested.

"Should I take my clothes off?"

"Not necessary. I apologize if we end up where we are before, but this can at least be a step closer to finding the answers if we do find something."

"Please proceed then, Hinata-san."

-SCENE-

Nami didn't get much sleep that night also. She was also curious on where they were now located, but from a geographical view. She just wanted to map out the area and discover the value of this "world" that are beyond ninjas and techniques. Simply said, she thought of the possibility of gold being found more frequently here.

"_Considering that the citizens of Sky Island didn't care much about gold, maybe it applies the same here. And this time, we won't let any of it escape our hands!" _she thought as a greedy look filled her eyes. _"Once we get back on the Grand Line again, we don't have to worry about money anymore!"_

After taking a long time thinking in bed, she decided she couldn't wait anymore. She needed to research the area and figure out where these treasures will lie. She silently sat up on the bed, so she wouldn't wake up the others. Actually, they seemed too occupied with sleep-arguing to notice her even if she made a lot of noise anyways.

"Meat! Meat! Meat!" Luffy cried.

"I'm busy entertaining Nami-san and Robin-chan right now. Learn to make your own damn food!" the cook replied gently in his sleep.

"Luffy, promise your eternal allegiance to me, and I'll help you find food!" Usopp declared.

"Really?"

"Of course, I' am Captain Usopp-sama after all," he said with a small arrogant laught afterwards.

"Me too! Me too!" Chopper enthusiastically responded.

"_I swear, they're idiots even when asleep," _Nami claimed inwardly with a soft smile. She then left in search for the answers to her questions.

-SCENE-

"Eh, the nurse told me to take a left around the corner and I would be at the hotel where the others are staying, but how did I end up here!?!?!" Zoro exclaimed as he looked up and found himself in the middle of a forest.

He started looking around to see if there were any signs to find his way back to the village, but all he saw were trees. "They should really start giving classes on HOW to give directions, because some don't have a clue…" he murmured as an invisible indicated otherwise ("BAKA ALERT! BAKA ALERT!").

The green-haired swordsman continued to walk deeper into the forest, slicing his way through the branches and vines. He stopped when he saw a guy and his dog bouncing all over the place, probably training.

"Oi! Do you know how to get back to Konoha?" Zoro asked loudly enough to catch his attention. The man stopped his training and looked at him questionably.

-SCENE-

"Oh yeah, I remember now! You're with that straw hat guy, right? Zolo, was it?" Kiba said, once he remembered where he saw this familiar face from. He was the one that helped carried him back to the hospital.

"It's Zoro. Please don't butcher my name like that," he replied coldly.

"Touchy, aren't we?" he joked.

"How do you know me?" Zoro asked with his hand near his katanas.

"I'm the one who helped carry you back after your fight with Tenten. Man, do you suck!"

"What did you say?"

"I mean I fought with her once before in the Chuunin Exam. She's tough, but her stamina and strength in general is pretty low, so a tough looking guy like you should be able to overpower her AT LEAST," he commented as he rubbed his nose. "Right, Akamaru?" Akamaru barked loudly and proudly in response.

"I was caught off guard by her tricks, but if you want me to test my strength against you, I won't be very shy," he replied with a smirk.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer. Since me and Akamaru didn't get a chance to get some action yesterday, we've been itching for a fight. But lemme tell you, if you think her tricks are bad, you've seen nothing yet!"

-SCENE-

"I'm so hungry," whined Luffy as he slouched down in his chair.

"You ate like 20 bowls yesterday. I swear you have a bottomless stomach," Usopp commented. But soon his stomach started agreeing with his idiot captain, letting out a growl. "Sanji, cook us something!!!!"

"Stop bothering me," he replied in an annoyed tone. They were interrupting his story of Ichi Ichi Paradise, and he wasn't appreciating it very much. It's hard to put yourself into the picture in an island of only beautiful ladies if all you hear is two male morons.

"Sanji….," they both whined simultaneously to get him to budge.

"Why don't you guys just go buy something to eat? It's not like we have any food anyways," he told them as he paid attention more to his adult novel.

"Have you forgotten? Our money doesn't work here and we don't know where Nami is also. Why did she have to take all the coupons with her too?" Usopp cried.

"Now that you mention it, Robin isn't here also. I have to go look for them!" Sanji declared once he put his book down.

"They'll be fine," Luffy said with a wide grin as he and Usopp pulled him to the door.

"Yeah, the captain knows best. Now that I think about it, there is still food in the fridge of Going Merry. You can make us something there," the sharpshooter of the team added in.

"Gah, what are you guys doing? They need me. They need Mr. Prince to the rescue!" Sanji cried as they dragged him away.

As they closed the door behind them, they seemed to have left a nakama behind. Chopper, who was still sleeping, seemed to be having a dream. He motioned his arms as if he was flying.

"Don't worry….. Chopperman will rescue you…..," he murmured.

-SCENE-

As everybody were off to do their own thing. An evil was lurking nearer and nearer. A group of soldiers were advancing towards Konoha stealthily.

"Bring back those newcomers at all costs! Do you understand?" ordered a short, bald man in a general's uniform.

"Yes, General Hayze, sir!" responded the army of thirty-something men in unison.

With that said, they marched forth.

**Author's Notes:** Sorry for the long update. I have been catching up to many games, so I was kind of ignoring my duty as an author of this beloved story.

Not much to say about this chapter. It's just setting up the scene in the next chapter. Now, to get some fan participation. People, I need you guys to think of some cool combos for our canon characters. What I mean is attack combinations between two or more people. They could be all OP characters, all Naruto characters, or mixed. And who knows? You may find your creation put into play in my story, so do it if you believe you got the stuff.

Anyways, onto responding to my beautiful reviewers!

baby's breath: Sasuke will most likely not be in this story at all. The same will apply for Akatsuki and Orochimaru. This position might change later on in the story, but for now, no. I will try to fit in Rookie 8 + Gai's team in the next chapter (whenever that will be).

Peter Kim: Nope, no gear moves at all. This story will basically follow after the G-8 arc (the filler arc after Skypiea).

ConanKid: Naruto is good, but I think it would be Luffy no contest in the eating contest :P

Yami Ryo: If I remember correctly, marimo is a green vegitable or something. In case you didn't know, Sanji always attack Zoro with that name.

And to everyone else I couldn't get to, I thank you for your support. So please keep reading and reviewing and I'll try my best not to disappoint (might disappoint the OP fans in terms of power levels though….).


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Invincible**

"Sorry guys, but there's no food left in here. Some bastard must've stolen it," Sanji cussed as he looked through the fridge.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. I ate all the food because I was really hungry the night before the incident. But it tastes better when it's cooked, so Sanji make us something!" Luffy ordered in a carefree and clueless manner.

"YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD US SOONER!" Usopp yelled with an elbow to the top of the head. His head just absorbed the blow.

"HOW CAN I COOK ANYTHING IF THERE'S NO FOOD LEFT?!!?" Sanji yelled with a heel to his rubber face. "I should've just bought a new refigerator sooner…"

"We could've bought a lot of things with that gold…" Usopp replied in a depressed manner. "Stupid hole thingy. Because of it, Going Merry barely has any life left to go on and we lost basically everything that wasn't nailed down or really heavy, including the money we were planning to use to repair Going Merry…"

"Guys, don't worry. We'll get everything back in no time at all," Luffy cheered them up.

"How do you propose that, captain?" the cook asked as he lit up a cigarette.

"Easy. We just have to kick some ass and take back what's ours!"

"I guess we don't have to go far to get it then…," Sanji said softly after he took a secretive glimpse out of the window and caught sight of a dark figure passing by.

"An enemy's here?!?!?" Usopp panicked, "We have to fight somewhere else. Going Merry might not be able to handle it!"

"Why aren't they barging in already?" Luffy asked.

"Are you even listening to me, Luffy!?!?!?"

"I think they're trying to catch us off-guard or something and haven't realized we already noticed them. This is a perfect chance for us to get away from here. Act casually while walking out," Sanji stated quietly.

"Sanji, you're a GENIUS!" Usopp praised. "Luffy, that means double for you when it comes to acting casual!"

"Ah, how boring!"

-SCENE-

"I can hardly believe it. This map, everything, is so different. This has to be a joke…. How can we be in the middle of the Grand Line suddenly enter in the like between a huge mass of land? It's not possible…" Nami stated in a shock manner. Her mind was officially in a roller coaster of confusion. She had been examining this thing for hours and the more she looked at it, the more she was lost.

Sakura, who just entered the library a few minutes earlier, just pat her back to comfort her. "Well, Hokage-sama and I do have our views that you might have come from another continent that is very far from here. We have no information on it whatsoever, but we do know it exists, so it can be that."

"I…, I just need some fresh air…," Nami stated.

Sakura helped her up and both of them walked out of the library. Immediately as they exit, soldiers dressed in gold and green uniforms stood in front of them. Behind them lied many unconscious genin, chuunin, and jounin on the ground.

"Hand over the orange-haired girl now!"

-SCENE-

"Shizune-san, do you see anything about peculiar about this material found on her clothes?" Hinata asked.

Shizune further examined the mini-sized trace of fabric that they found on Robin's clothing with a magnifying glass. "This is definitely something I never saw, but that may not mean much since it may be common wherever you're from…. How about you take a look at it, Robin?"

Robin stepped over and looked at it in the same way Shizune examined it. "I doubt it. I never saw it before in my life. Even looking at it, you can see how much power it emits. It's overwhelming…"

"I guess that means we've reached a dead end," Hinata said with a sigh.

"Wait, maybe Hokage-sama might know something of this. We should go ask her. Come with me," Shizune said after a loud yawn as she stepped outside the lab.

"Shizune-san!" Hinata called, but was too late. The moment she walked outside, she was knocked out unconscious by surprise all too fast.

With her Byakugan, Hinata started analyzing the situation before the enemy would notice that there were more people in the building.

"Ojos Fleurs," Robin silently told herself after she crossed her arms. Eyes bloomed outside the laboratory they were in, and she began scanning the area. "There seems to be around 10 enemies near to us."

"12 to be exact. Four in the front, 6 in the rear, and two on the rooftop," Hinata corrected with her Byakugan still activated.

"What's the plan, Hinata-san?"

"I…, I don't know…"

-SCENE-

Zoro and Kiba were both breathing heavy. Both were exhausted, full of bruises and cuts, yet still had smirks on their faces.

"You sure know how to use your swords, huh?" he commented, while holding over a cut a little bit below his shoulder.

"You're not so bad yourself. I'll be glad to beat you down some more if it weren't for these guests," the green-haired swordsman replied.

"What a shame… Akamaru!" he called. With that, his pet partner jumped on top of his back, which was now parallel to the ground. "Juujin Bunshin! Shikyaku no Jutsu!"

Soon, both man and dog became two identical half-man, half-beast characters ready to show their worth.

"Heh, ninja tricks are pretty interesting," he noted to himself as he got into his Santouryuu fighting stance. "Nothing better than a good warm-up before we really get serious, huh?"

"You can bet you ass on that! Akamaru, let's go!"

-SCENE-

"Shikamaru! C'mon, hurry up!" Naruto called from outside his house.

"What do you want?"

"Training! It'll do the body good, so let's go."

"I never promised that I would train with you today…"

"Stop being so whiny already, and let's go. We should work on that secret jutsu better."

"That technique is a pain in the ass…"

"What? Well, whatever. Hurry up!"

"_I guess the "pain in the ass" part came from his side of the table…" _Shikamaru concluded before he decides to finally give in. "Fine, I'll be down in five minutes…"

"Fine. If you're not here in five minutes, I'm dragging you out!" Naruto warned with a smirk.

"Hai, hai…"

As promised, he came down at the time agreed. Once he exited, he felt something strange in the environment though.

"Shikamaru, you're lucky this time. It looks like our training session is cancelled."

"How troublesome…"

-SCENE-

"These assholes just keep getting back up," Sanji complained after he landed a double kick on the chest of the enemy. Another one came at him from behind, but the long-nosed partner managed to cover him in time.

"Hissatsu Kayaku Boshi!" Usopp shouted at the top of his lungs. His gunpowder star was slinged right to the forehead of the enemy with a small explosion on contact.

The enemy just stood there temporarily stunned. When he came to, a strong heel hit his face straight on, knocking him to the ground.

"These guys are so weak!" Luffy complained after he let loose a Gomu Gomu no Muchi, tripping over a set of enemies that surrounded him.

-SCENE-

Chouji stood there in the middle of town breathing hard, along with Shino and Ino by his side. Slowly, their fellow comrades fell due to exhaustion.

"I don't understand this. I'm absolutely positive that they aren't figures created by genjutsu, yet they stand back up after every single one of our attacks. It's impossible. Even Iruka-sensei gave out after attacking them over and over again," Ino said pessimistically. She knew well that she wasn't strong in ninjutsu or taijutsu as well as her comrades and her genjutsu didn't seem to have any effect at all on these soldiers. It would be only a matter of time before she would be defeated too.

A line of enemies rushed toward an unguarded Ino but Chouji jumped in front of her, ready to unleash an attack. "Bubun Baika no Jutsu!" He punched forward as it enlarged, unleashing a powerful strength of a Akimichi growing arm.

Another parade of enemies jumped from the rooftops toward the group. Shino quietly muttered, "Mushi Kabe no Jutsu…," and a wall of bugs shielded him and his comrades from their close-up attack, along with projectiles from the side. Next, he allowed a bug clone of himself to dash forward with a kunai, and started slashing the throats of the foes.

Soon, Chouji and Shino (and some help from Ino) were able to take care of all the enemies in their proximity.

"There are still more around the village. We should hurry," Shino suggested.

They prepared to take off, but before doing so, a kunai was thrown at them. Shino's bugs immediately gathered at his hand, into a ball shape and was thrown to neutralize the the attack. Ino complemented his block with three shurikens straight to the forehead of the enemy, killing him off.

The team looked around them and soon realized they were once again surrounded by the enemies.

"They just keep coming and coming…," Ino complained in an irritating tone.

"Don't worry, there has to be some limit to their troops. We just have to hang in there," advised Chouji.

Suddenly, Shino noticed something. "They're the same ones as from before…"

-SCENE-

Sakura ran forth and formed ten clones while doing so. An enemy tried to punch one of them, but his fist went straight through the clone. As soon as it touched the illusion, he was immediately met with a punching glove, coming out of Nami's Clima Tact, knocking him far back.

"Good job!" Sakura complimented.

"You can't survive on a pirate ship without at least knowing a few tricks," she boasted. Before she could say any more, 3 soldiers soon appeared before her.

"You're coming with us, ma'am."

"Like hell I will, you perverts!" she shouted. She then kicked one of them in the groin area, and pushed him into the other two. Then she made a run for it.

"Sakura, I'll leave the rest to you!"

5 out of the 15 men in the area ran after her. Sakura was about to stop them, but the other 10 quickly surrounded her. Sakura got into a fighting stance, preparing to take them on.

But before she can throw the first punch, a green swirl entered and knocked out three of them in one fell swoop.

"I will always protect, Sakura-san. That's my promise!" Rock Lee stated.

"Sorry to hurt your ego Lee, but…," she started. Next, she threw a mega punch right into the chest of the enemy, pushing him hard into another ninja, sending them flying back into a building. Next, she hopped onto the shoulders of another enemy, did a split to send two jaw breaking kicks to two enemies standing beside him, and topped it off with a strong elbow to the top of the head of the enemy she was standing on, sending him down quickly. "I don't need your help anymore."

Lee clapped his hands in amazement. As he stood there clapping, the remaining two enemies sneaked forth with kunais in hand and attempted to stab him. "Konoha Reppuu!" They dropped in no time at all.

"We should hurry. I'm afraid Nami might need our help," told Sakura. They were planning to run in that direction, but suddenly all of the the enemies stood back up again.

"How is that possible?" she asked in shock.

"It probably isn't," concluded Lee.

-SCENE-

Meanwhile, Kiba and Zoro kept throwing ultimate fatalities one after another, but the enemies kept getting back up.

"Their healing rate is even more impressive than Naruto's…."

"They aren't human," Zoro commented. "San-Jyuu-Roku Pondo Hou!" His sword blast attack connected, knocking five warriors down, in some cases, their heads were even blown to chunks. However, the enemies soon regenerated and fully recovered. "That just makes the game all the more fun, eh?"

"I guess so," Kiba replied with a smirk. "Gatsuuga!"

-SCENE-

Once Nami was pushed back to a dead end, she did the only possible thing she could do in the solution. She blindly started swinging her weapon around. Her hand was grabbed soon enough though, and the enemies just blankly glared at her.

"You're coming with us. And don't you dare resist any further, sweetie?"

"I don't think so!!!!!!" With that, a powerful, gravity induced axe-handle (folded fists smack from above) was slammed in to the head of the soldier. The other four guys backed away a bit on the entrance of a new fighter.

Nami smiled when she saw her furry comrade to her rescue. "Chopper!"

"Don't worry, Nami. Chopperman is here!!!!!!" He said loudly while still in his Heavy Point form.

"Huh?"

"I mean… So, Nami you should stay behind me. I can handle these guys by myself."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you then," she said.

The four immediately came in at him, and Chopper immediately threw a punch. The attack was evaded, and a double kick hit his chest, causing him to back-step a bit. Chopper countered with another punch, but they avoided that hit as well. They immediately went for another hit, but Chopper collapsed into his Walking Point in time to avoid as well. He rammed forth into the enemy's knee and combo'd it up with a devastating upper cut in his Heavy Point form.

The three men left pulled out their kunai and started aiming dozens of them at Chopper. Chopper was able to dodge many of the array of projectiles, while protecting Nami, with his quick transformations, but a weapon soon cut him across the shoulder, nearly hitting Nami as well.

"Chopper!"

"I'm okay… Don't worry, just three guys left," he re-assured.

Unfortunately, the two earlier KO'd enemies, got back up in their tip-top condition.

"What the hell…. How strong are they? How can we kill these guys if they can get back up even after your strong hits," Nami exclaimed.

Chopper immediately saw it in their eyes though. "They can't be that strong. They're already dead…"

-SCENE-

General Hayze was standing at the front gate of Konoha, while staring at the pile of dead and unconscious bodies. "After this, I should remember to take some of these brave shinobi home with me. They will be proud to serve for a new generation of power. It's only a matter of time before ninjas die off anyways…"

He then looked at his watch. "This took much longer than I thought it would. Oh well, I guess I'll have to send _them _in now."

Suddenly, seven guys appeared before him. "Where's Kane?" asked Hayze.

"He went on ahead," one of them replied.

"That brat's always off and disobeying orders. He's ruining the the morale of our team. General, you should dismiss him!" another complained.

"Now, you know Gaiyo wouldn't like that. He is his nephew afterall. Now, do you guys want some of the serum on you?"

"I don't intend on needing it."

"Same goes for the rest of us!"

"Proud men, are we? Now you guys do know that proud people are often found dead sooner than others on the battlefield, right?"

They remained silent.

"Very well, then. Do what you must. Bring back the Straw Hats at all costs."

In a gust of wind, the seven men disappeared without a trace.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Arusatsu's Untouchable Moves**

Near Shikamaru's home, another battle was taking place. The blonde loudmouth and the lazy shinobi relentlessly took out opponent after opponent.

A soldier came at the ponytailed-jounin, while he was busy struggling against another "lifeless" soldier. When the strike of the enemy's fist came at him, Shikamaru immediately pushed the other enemy back, and kicked the oncoming soldier. He tried to capitalize with an immediate leg sweep, but the opponent hopped to avoid it. Shikamaru hinted a soft grin, signaling some sense of success, before he rolled under the opponent during mid-air and stabbed him in his unguarded back area. The soldier dropped immediately, but that only brought forth more mindless enemies.

Meanwhile, Naruto was using more of brute strength and chakra abuse rather than intellect, unlike his partner. When somebody came at him, Naruto met that person with a quick fist to the face and knee to the jaw. Sometimes, he would complement his finisher with an extended leg to the side to either make contact with another soldier or make them back off all of a sudden, easily making them unprepared for a nearby pair of clones to take advantage with a Rasengan.

It goes without saying Naruto and his twenty-something shadow clones took care of a good 80 of the soldiers, with Shikamaru at 20. However, with the invincible enemies keep getting up, it was nothing short of troublesome.

"Even with fatal wounds and major blood loss, these guys just keep getting up like it was nothing. Naruto, we have to think of another tactic to deal with the situation," Shikamaru decided, right before ten shurikens came flying right at him. He used Kawarimi no Jutsu just in time to replace his body with a piece of log nearby. He then came from behind of the enemy launching projectiles and stuck a kunai at the base of his neck. "Man, even as an ANBU for 2-3 years now, I haven't seen so much blood spilled… How troublesome…"

"Well, if you have any suggestions I'm up for it. But seriously, these guys aren't worth the trouble thinking so hard about. They haven't been able to attack any citizens so far and are way too easy to beat," Naruto stated, while he was struggling with an enemy. Another soldier rushed toward him from the side and Naruto quickly threw the solder into the other soldier that was coming at him. He took them out with a kunai launched at the chest, piercing them both. "I can do this all day!"

As the shinobi fended off against the invaders, all of a sudden, every soldier dropped dead, truly dead this time.

"What the hell…," commented a surprised Naruto .

"I was hoping that they would fall soon," Shikamaru said with a heavy sigh. He sat down near a tree to rest.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw something in their eyes and that showed my that we were merely fighting dead corpses. Some person probably gave them some kind of drug that allows the user to continue fighting, even after they are killed. I'm guessing that the time just ran out."

"Now that you mentioned it, when we first fought them, they were at least asking us something about the 7 "special" soldiers and their location, and they grunted/moan when we were hurting them. After that, it was just like fighting with animated dolls or something," Naruto realized.

Suddenly, both shinobi remained very still and silent, while observing the environment very carefully. Shortly afterwards, the ground started rumbling and burst out a huge looking man (more wide than tall if you get the drift). He wore dark brown pants and a black sweater. He hid his face with a mask, only revealing his dark eyes.

"I see the soldiers have officially all expired. What a waste, it looks like the ones over here didn't get anything done before they dropped…," he said softly to himself.

"Hey, fatass, are you with them? What the hell do you want with us?" Naruto called out loud enough for him to hear.

"Quite bratty for a shinobi, I see. I do not wish to fight, but if I must, I'll make it quick. I do have a mission to complete…," he replied in a cool manner.

"_I can feel that this guy's no joke by any means. His chakra level is pretty powerful _(although by no means comparable to a Kyuubified Naruto_), and it's completely tamed, which can be very deadly if used correctly," _Shikamaru analyzed. "Naruto, watch out! He's more than there's to the eye!"

"You don't have to tell me. I know he's going to be tougher than he looks," replied Naruto, while concentrating on the enemy. "I've been looking for a challenge anyways, so let's get on with it!"

In a matter of seconds, he resummoned a fresh batch of shadow clones to add onto the ones remaining from the earlier battle, making 20 clones total.

Five rushed at him, ready to take him down through hand-to-hand combat. Before they were within arms' reach, the man punched the floor, sending parts of the ground flying at them. It destroyed them almost immediately.

"It's not very nice to start a fight without knowing the person's name," he coldly complemented, while staring at the ground with his completely covered eyes.

"If we must go that way, why don't you start? After that, we can ask you about your motive in invading our village," Shikamaru joined in, while walking toward the guy.

"Arusatsu…"

"Uzumaki Naruto. The guy who's gonna to pound the truth out of ya! Shikamaru, let's waste this guy and show him the true power of Konoha."

"Try not to be too reckless," the strategic jounin advised.

"I'm not making any promises on this one."

Suddenly, Arusatsu grabbed a piece of rock and slowly transferred his chakra into it, while the other two shinobi gazed at his actions. The rock slowly changed shaped as it absorbed more chakra, becoming smoother and round as time passed.

"What the hell is he doing?" Naruto asked himself. He immediately snapped out of it and ordered all of his clones to attack. Before the clones were able to react, Arusatsu tossed the rock into the air, over where all of them stood. It started glowing, and then all of a sudden, it splited into thousand mini daggers, spreading out to stab everybody in sight. All of the clones were destroyed in a poof of gas, and Naruto and Shikamaru endured several fatal and minor wounds.

"I know you're not done yet brat, so come over here so you can meet your impending doom," he commented as he strolled over to Naruto.

The blonde loudmouth ninja immediately responded to his statement with a reckless burst forth. He threw a flying kick, but it was knocked away with the back of the enemy's hand. As soon as he hit the ground again, Naruto rebounded back up and delivered a spin punch to the face. It caught the man unexpected at the targeted area, but Arusatsu didn't allow it to slow him down. After connecting to his face, he grabbed the fist and dragged it to the ground, making Naruto stumble over. He then delivered a powerful stomp to Naruto's back and kicked him across the ground, right into the wall of Shikamaru's house. As soon as he hit it, a burst of blood left his mouth as he sat back against the small dent left by the impact of the attack.

Shikamaru was about to step in, but Naruto grabbed his arm on his way getting back up. "I'm not done yet!"

Immediately, he summoned 14 shadow clones, and he, along with the clones, surrounded the enemy in a circle shape. They quickly closed in. The clones and Naruto split into three in a pack. Two used their arms as a boost for the other one to jump up and come down with a kunai in hand and pointing downwards.

While still in mid-air, Arusatsu shot out a wave of chakra from all sides of his body. When it came into contact with the enemy, for a second or two, they were completely paralyzed. Within that alloted time, he jumped up, grabbed a kunai from the real Naruto's hand along with his pouch, filled with weapons, punched Naruto back, threw four shurikens to quickly eliminate the other airborne clones, and kicked Naruto again to the dirt, breaking his nose upon landing. When Arusatsu landed, he took care of the other clones with the kunai he stolen earlier.

"Is that all?"

"Naruto, I'll take over from here…," Shikamaru softly told him as he stared down the enemy. _"With his obvious disadvantage in speed, he has technique, power, and experience on his side. All I'm left with is strategy to gain the upper hand… Three shurikens, one kunai, a smoke bomb, and a little bit of thin wire left… Not much, but I can make use of all of them."_

Shikamaru then put his hand into the pouch and grabbed four shurikens from it. He ran toward the enemy, while throwing all of his shurikens consecutively, leaving uneven intervals between (something like ½-second, 2-second, 2-second).

The enemy just grinned at the futile attempts, and brought out his hand to catch the oncoming projectiles. The first one left him offguard and surprised when he realized it was only an illusion, leaving his hand opened for the second one to dig into it. Ignoring the pain, he swatted the other shurikens away, but soon found himself in a cloud of fog produced by the smoke bomb.

Sensing movement to his right, he blocked an oncoming stab from Shikamaru, forcing the Konoha shinboi to hide himself in the smoke again. Then Arusatsu suddenly felt the shuriken earlier buried in his right hand yanked away from him (through means of some wire tied to it and and held by the pony-tailed jounin in the other end), leaving him temporarily vulnerable for a few seconds. Immediately, Shikamaru capitalized with a stab to the shoulder. He tried to further use the situation to his advantage with a driving fist to the stomach, but it was caught with the bloody hand. The enemy countered with another fist, but Shikamaru caught that one with his other free hand. As a gap of clear air passed by their faces, they stared down each other for a brief moment, telling the other one that they won't back down with their eyes.

"_I have to use this situation to my advantage and capitalize!"_ Following that train of thought, he softly murmured some words, "Kage Kubi Shi…"

Arusatsu sensed something was wrong when there was an awkward pause from the action, and immediately kicked away Shikamaru. He dashed forth and threw a powerful fist to the guts, crushing elbow to the jaw, and a deadly headbutt to the face.

Naruto watched as he saw his partner fly out of the cloud of smoke, all bloody and beatened up. Naruto slowly got up and ran over there, but before he could get near Shikamaru, he felt a soft impact on the ground and then a piece of the ground came flying at him. Fortunately, Naruto managed to duck in time, but immediately felt the force of a 400 pound man on top of his back, driving his body into the ground.

He continued to stomp repeatedly on Naruto's now frail body with no remorse. Although his face was covered, his eyes indicated that he loved every moment he bruised his opponent's body.

Before he could continue any longer, Naruto immediately turned over and caught his leg before it could make contact with him again. "Don't think I'm gone and out yet, asshole!"

At that moment, Shikamaru immediately stretched out his shadow to trap Arusatsu in his Kage Mane no Jutsu. The enemy immediately noticed a faint release of chakra and pulled out his leg from Naruto's grasp, jumped to the side, and dug into the ground with repeated powerful punches.

"_As long as there's darkness, he won't be out of my reach!"_

The shadow followed into the hole that was just recently made and chased the opponent underground.

"Naruto, he'll probably pop out soon. Get ready," he advised as he concentrated onto his Kage mane no Jutsu. He could feel he was getting close and closer to the man.

Naruto immediately bounced back up and laid his back against a house as he breathed hard. Every breath he took, Kyuubi's chakra slowly charged him, leaving a red aura that was slowly gaining momentum.

The moment the man popped out of the ground and high into the air, Naruto punched the house (completely demolishing it down) and used it as a boost toward the enemy while a couple of inches above ground. He flew forth like a launching missle in mid-air and stuck his fist out to complement the Kyuubi-charged attack. Arusatsu noticed the launching Naruto, while he was still high in the air, and got himself into a blocking posture with his hands.

"Once I block this brat's hit, I'll fly back far enough to avoid that shadow jutsu's reach and by then, I can finish this thing with "that" attack. I'm ashamed I had to resort to it against them, but oh well," he softly told himself.

Right when Naruto's punch was about to contact him full on and Arusatsu was ready to take it, Naruto's motion completely stopped in mid-air! Quickly using this moment of surprise and vulnerability (Arusatsu's hands were still guarding his stomach where it would block the oncoming attack if it were to connect) to his advantage, he charged a red and black Rasengan.

"Kage…"

"RASENGAN!"

Infused with both shadow and Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto punched it upwards, connecting to the unguarded jaw of the enemy. A blast of wind and shadow came forth from the orb, completely blowing away the enemy in a fierceful force of power.

Arusatsu was pushed diagonally up into the air, ripping and pounding him along the way. When the attack finally lost its momentum, he dropped lifelessly onto the concrete floor. A powerful finish!

Shikamaru dropped to the ground with a heavy breath and then turned over to stare at the cloudy skies. "Victory comes at such a heavy price, eh (is commenting at how much physical work he had to put into it to finally win against the opponent)?" he told himself before he called his ANBU partner, "Naruto, tie him up and we'll interrogate him when this matter is done with."

In a blur of confusion, Naruto complied, but stopped to ask a question. "What the hell just happened?!?!? I was floating!!!"

"I stopped you in mid-air with my Kage Mane no Jutsu, who was already nearby that area. Then, with that troublesome jutsu that depleted all of my energy, we finished him off… How you can be left standing is such a wonder…"

Naruto smiled, while summoning a rope from a scroll hidden under his pants ("You can't just tie down your enemies with standard rope… You need the Super Rope!") and tying up the unconscious foe. "Heh, this is nothing…"

After properly restraining the enemy, he suddenly dropped unconscious from fatigue beside him.

"Troublesome baka…"

**Author's Notes**

Thanks for all the reviews and submission of attack ideas. Unfortunately, I will have to use those attacks at another time, since the ones I saw weren't in the character pairings I decisgned for this epic battle. However, ConanKid, Cybertoy00, and Emma Iveli, I thank you for submitting ideas. To AnimegirlKiki and baby's breath and the above mentioned, I personally thank you for reviewing everytime (or almost everytime if that's the case). A guy like me needs his motivation to continue writing (especially troublesome fight scenes), and you guys make it worth it everytime.

Please criticism/comments please!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Foolish Needle Techniques**

"It's about time they start dying down," the cook noted after he exhaled a cloud of smoke before. He then landed a kick to the jaw of the enemy that stood before him. After receiving many deadly blows, finally the soldier gave out completely.

"Tamago Boshi (Egg Star)! Hissatsu Namari Boshi (Sure-Kill Lead Star)! Usopp Noise! Usopp Wagomu (Rubberband)! Usopp Hammer! ….That was too easy," the long-nosed sharpshooter bragged while breathing heavily from delivering his various sorts of attacks. "If I had eaten breakfast, I could've taken them all down by myself!" Before he could exaggerate his abilities any further, a bloody soldier jumped him from behind. "Aaaaaah! Get him off of me! I'm going to die!!! Ahhh, I'm dead," he cried while he was still running around.

"I don't think a dead person can be running around with so much energy like he is," Sanji assured Usopp.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" The stretched out punch just barely missed his nakama as it striked the desperate enemy in the face. The enemy lifelessly dropped back to the floor.

"Luffy, be more careful, could you?!?!?! Did you know how close you came to hitting me?!?!?!" he cried.

"My bad, but the brave warrior of the sea could've taken it no problem, right?" Luffy joked with a goofy grin on his face. Three guys closed in on him, but as soon as they got within range, Luffy pushed them away with his famous Gomu Gomu no Fuusen, and combo'd it up with Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun, while they were still in midair.

"Well, of course! I mean what can a little rubbery punch do to me!" Usopp boasted, "It was just that I was planning for an ultimate-super-strong attack and you interrupted me, that's all!" Another soldier rushed forth with a kunai in hand, intending to stab him, as he spoke.

"Watch out!" Sanji yelled from behind.

Usopp caught sight of the enemy and rolled away just in the nick of time. He then prepared a launch of ketchup and mustard and launched it to his eyes. While occupied with wiping the mess off his face and clearing his vision, he was met with plentiful kicks to the groin, delivering the already-dead soldier to a painful close of his life.

Luffy proudly laughed as he dodged an oncoming attack from the various assailants. With just two guys left, he performed a Gomu Gomu no Rocket to clear the field of any more foes.

"Well, that was fun. Not very challenging, but I haven't got a workout like this in a while, so I'm satisfied!" he commented.

"Like I said, too easy," Usopp told them as he bent over from exhaustion and fatigue.

"Don't rest too easy yet, guys. More of them are coming this way…," Sanji stated, as he took out a new cigarette from his pack.

Usopp stood up straight with a dead-serious look on his face. "Guys," he said, "I think I have caught the can't-fight-anymore-so-you-guys-should-do-all-the-work-now disease upon staying at this exotic island (only Nami and possibly Robin has realized that this isn't an island so far) for too long, so you guys handle it and I'll take care of the rest from the sideline." He immediately ran over to the bushes to hide.

"Don't worry, Usopp! It'll all be over soon!" Luffy reassured his nakama, while he winded up his arm.

Then, in a blink of an eye, 3 ninjas and a casually dressed man appeared before them. The three ninjas were of medium-sized height and no other noticeable characteristics about them were standing in the front, while an awkwardly tall and skinny man stood behind them. He had short spiky hair and wore a red tank top with jean shorts.

"So these punks are the one we're supposed to recover. They don't look much though, leader…," one said.

"Don't let your eyes fool you! But you guys are right though… Anyways, try to save some action for me!" the tall one ordered.

"Yes sir!" they obeyed.

Two ninjas faced the adversary that stood in front of them (Sanji and Luffy), while the other turned to the side, to catch a glimpse of the coward in the bushes.

"_Oh crap!"_

"You ready to knock 'em out cold, Shin?" one asked the other as he gave a threatening glance at the casually dressed straw hat pirate.

"You kidding me? I've been fighting little punks like them while you've been sucking your fingers as a child. You're damn right I'm ready!"

Before they could take a step forward, though, the brief fight has already been decided.

"Selle!"

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

The two men were sent flying, while the two pirates gave a short sigh on the brevity of that fight. They were expecting something more enticing.

"Is that all?" Luffy asked in a bored manner.

"Well, there's still the other ninja and this guy right here," the blonde cook indicated. He turned to where the other ninja was standing at earlier, but noticed that that person no longer was there. Not in sight even.

"UWAHHHHHHHH!" a familiar voice cried out from deeper in the woods.

"Usopp… Luffy, I'm going on ahead!" Sanji said as he attempted to make a dash in the direction of Usopp's voice. However, before he can get too far, three needles punctured the ground in front of him, a clear indication of challenge.

"What's the hurry? Why don't we go a couple of rounds first? I promise that after all of this is done, you will meet up with your friends again. However, I' am at no liberty to say when and where," the man in front of them said in a sly manner. "But before we get any further, allow me to introduce myself. They call me Xiaofin. I was born in Raofu, a land very distant from here. Ever since I was a boy, I knew I wanted to become an acupuncturist. You see, my father carried the same profession, and…"

"NO NEED TO TELL YOUR WHOLE LIFE STORY!" Luffy and Sanji interrupted impatiently.

"Very well then. Now, let us be…"

"Gomu Gomu no Bullet!" Luffy shouted as he shot his rubbery arm out toward the face of the enemy.

Xiaofin, however, masterfully maneuvered himself out of harm's way, allowing the dangerous punch to shoot past him. Once the attack lost its momentum, he grabbed the stretched arm.

"Now, now," he began while staring at Luffy's hand and pulling out a long, thin needle. "I didn't say 'sta…"

However, he was interrupted again. While he was taking his time, Sanji ran down along the stretched arm to the other side and landed a ferocious heel to the jaw of the enemy before he could say anymore. Xiaofin was knocked to the ground, and scratching himself among the rough dirt until he hit a tree.

Xiaofin immediately got back up to his feet and took a deep breath.

"I DIDN'T SAY START YET! GOD DAMN IT, CAN YOU GUYS JUST BE A LITTLE PATIENT!" he shouted, while a visible bruised appeared on his jaw.

"With such a climatic entrance, I expected something better of you bastards. I guess I set my standards too high," Sanji commented while he exhaled the smoke from his cigarette.

The enemy gave a small grin due to the fact how little he was being thought of. A split second later, he suddenly pulled out 5 needles and aimed them all at the cook. "Headshot!"

Sanji could barely see it coming at him and only just barely manage to avoid it by bending backwards (Matrix style dodge). "_What the hell is he? He shoots out those things at an unbelievable speed and I was lucky to even see then coming, let alone dodge it!"_

"SANJI!!!"

Before the warning of Luffy could be heard, though, Xiaofin already closed in the distance between him and Sanji. While the cook was still in a dodging motion, the acupuncturist quickly took advantage and kneed the side of his head. Before he could fall over, he continued the assault with a flip onto top of Sanji and landed a parade of stomps onto his chest. After that, he targeted 4 needles to each arm and leg to lock him in place with the ground. The needles stabbed him through the wrists and ankles and pierce through the ground beneath it, holding the cook still.

"It's payback time, asshole! STOMACHACHE!"

With 4 other needles in hand, he stabbed him into four specific spots around the stomach. With an instant flush of internal pain, Sanji cried out in extreme agony as the effects of the technique kicked in.

"Although I do love to see your suffering, I must end this in a timely manner. Time to knock you out cold! NAUSEA!"

With another needle he just pulled out, he intended to stab it on top of the pirate's head. Sanji struggled to break loose, but with the tremendous pain from the last technique still going on inside of him, it proved futile. Before contact with the needle was made, Luffy wasted no time to assist his nakama.

"Gomu Gomu no Muchi!" A powerful sweep of the rubber leg came toward the acupuncturist, forcing him to cancel his current plans to avoid the attack. The sweeping managed to knock out all of the needles from Sanji's body, freeing him from both the restriction of his body and the effects of Xiaofin's "Stomachache". Sanji immediately rolled away and got back up to face the enemy once again.

"What a shame! And here I thought I could take down one guy before I have to get serious."

"Unfortunately, now I have to get serious…," Sanji said quietly as he took the last puff of his cigarette before throwing it down to the ground. He sent off a deadly stare while he pressed on the cigarette with his feet. Then without a warning he dashed forth.

"Epaule!" He proclaimed as he targeted the right shoulder of Xiaofin. The acupuncturist just barely managed to move his targeted shoulder out of the way. However, Sanji didn't finish there. Immediately as he witnessed the unguarded face of the enemy, he quickly threw out another kick. "Joue Shoot!" The attack hit his cheek dead on, forcing him to mis-step to the side, leaving him unbalanced and vulnerable. "Côtelette!" A deadly kick to the ribs. "Gigot!" A leg sweep making him fall over, and then a "Reception!" A hook to the shoulder and neck with his feet of Xiaofin as he's falling back and then a slam forth in the opposite direction.

Sanji wasn't done yet, and was ready to plant the heel of his shoe to the enemy's head, but the enemy launched a counter assault before that could happen while still lying on the ground.

"PURPLE NURPLE!" A needle pierced to each breast of the blonde cook. Sanji first looked dully, thinking it was either a failed attack or just extremely weak. Seconds later, he dropped to his knees, the effects of the twisting of his nipples started to kick in.

"_This guy's strength is no joke. Plus his legs are so freakin' quick and agile, it's annoying!"_ thought Xiaofin. He slowly got up and again got ready for a finishing attack on the target that stood before him.

Before he got the chance though, Sanji ripped out the needles from his chest and "boot" him. Xiaofin blocked the blow, but was pushed back.

"I'm getting sick of your freakin' stupid techniques! I'll make sure this last hit will make sure you understand that you and your organization are dealing with the wrong people…."

"Before that though…., LOOK OUT, THERE'S A HUGE DINOSAUR BEHIND YOU!" he bluffed.

"Where? Where?" Luffy asked loudly from far back.

"_I sure got a stupid ass captain…," _Sanji thought in distress, "You remind me of a nakama I have. Don't feel bad after I'm done with you. I usually kick his ass too when he's acting like an idiot."

With that said, he dash forth, quickly closing in the space. However, the end wasn't as near as Sanji proclaimed, with a smirk of confidence on Xiaofin's face as a leading indicator.

"Athlete's Feet!" Two needles came flying at the spot Sanji was dashing toward to, leaving his feet vulnerable to the attack.

Sanji tried to brake but was still moving forward due to the velocity of the initial rush, so he hopped high enough to avoid it, leaving him completely vulnerable in mid-air long enough for the enemy to capitalize.

"I'm not such an idiot now, am I? SEIZURE!" In an instant, two golden long needles blasted toward his neck.

"YOU LIAR!!!!!" Luffy's voice boomed. Just at the nick of time, a tree was launched forth from behind Sanji, pushing him forward, allowing the aim of the deadly attack to miss completely. Sanji immediately pushed himself to the side with his legs to jump out of the destructive path of the attack Luffy just created.

"Don't you have a better way to enter into the fight?!?!? That attack on me could've been used to the enemy's advantage!" Sanji yelled.

Luffy just showed off his usual goofy grin and ran to where Sanji was. "Where's that guy anyway?"

"I was too distracted to notice. Although that guy don't look much, he won't be easy to take care of. He probably used that chance to attack us from where we can't see him…."

However, right after Sanji said that, they found Xiaofin lying under one of the trees that Luffy's thrown tree knocked over. They could also hear his pathetic groan as they stared at him dully.

"Sanji I think you're giving him way too much credit…."

"Shut up…"

Xiaofin then pulled himself out with an angry look on his face. "Your sense of teamwork is praiseworthy!"

"No, you just suck," they both said at the same time.

"Well, we'll see what you have to say about that after…" he said before a familiar attack interrupted his speech.

"Takusei Tabasco Boshi!" The deluxe tabasco star hit the target as it was aimed, and soon, the guy was running in circle begging for water.

"That's our cue," Sanji stated.

"Hah, I knew Usopp won't go down that easily…."

Both pirates dashed forth. Sanji continued straight ahead, while Luffy jumped onto a high tree that was directly above Xiaofin.

Sanji slowed down once he reached the dancing Xiaofin and just grinned at his patheticness. "Don't bite more than you can chew. You're only wasting your energy and time by doing so… Anti-Manner Kick Course!"

The vertical kick rocketed him straight into the air toward where Luffy stood on a high branch on a tall tree. "Bye! Gomu Gomu no…, Storm!" Soon, a destructive barrage of punches pounded the enemy further and further up. Exactly right after the final punch sent him flying to wherever he came from, it all ended with a flash with Usopp's aid.

"Hissatsu Hanabi (Sure-Kill Fireworks)!" Truly a beautiful finish! Truly a grand "Farewell Package" (couldn't think of a better name)!

The gang regrouped as they head back into town.

"So, Usopp, how did you do against the guy that chased you into the woods?" a curious captain asked.

"Do you need to ask? I took him down just like that," he said followed by a snap of the finger.

"No, really."

"What? That's the exact truth. Is it so hard to believe that I completely dominated an opponent?"

"Yeah, basically," both of his nakama replied.

"Well…., he tripped on a tree root and I pounded him senseless with a hammer, okay? That's still a victory, right?"

Both guys grinned and just nodded as they continued walking.

After a brief silence, Luffy's stomach interrupted with a loud growl. "I'm hungggrryyyyy. Sanji, meat!"

**Author's Notes: **A resurrection with what I think a decent-but-not-great fighting chapter without beloved heroes from the Grand Line. Hopefully this update can regroup my old readers and catch some new ones as well. Also, thank you to a recent reviewer to remind me that I still have an obligation to complete.

For the combo ideas, I don't think I can use them with the current fight pairings I have so far. Paying attention to the details on chapter 6 should give you the background you need to create combo ideas for me if you're interested. Anyways, read and review. Hell, even if you don't read it, still review it. Sure you won't have much to say, but I won't mind. I'm doing it all for the stats, baby!

PS: I promise I won't say "baby" again if that will also help increase my stats!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: A Viney Ordeal **

Just as one battle was closed, another one was only beginning in another area near Konoha. There stood Inuzuka Kiba and Roronoa Zoro, staring each other down while trapped a wide cage made from vines in the middle of another side of the forest.

"We didn't get to finish, did we?" Kiba asked with a smirk.

"I was thinking the exact same thing," Zoro replied.

Soon, both men clashed their katanas and claws at each other. Not one holding back a bit.

One mysterious lady outside of the confinement, who was sitting high above on a tree branch, was laughing wholeheartedly as she watched the spectacle before her. "Simply marvelous!"

Before

While Zoro and Kiba (with Akamaru) were combating enemies one by one, the numbers finally started dwindling, and eventually, the battle with the lifeless soldiers ended. Before they had a moment to even think though, a new enemy immediately entered into the picture in a timely fashion.

She had long blue hair and was pretty tall. She stood there in a tight body suit as she stared down her target and his accompanied comrade.

"Oooh, it seems that I have found myself the swordsman of the notorious pirate crew. Simply marvelous."

"Eh?" Zoro curtly questioned with a grumpy look on his face. "Who are you supposed to be exactly?"

"You can call me Desara, Zoro-san. A pleasure to meet you."

"I would say the same…, if we were under different circumstances," Zoro replied as he unsheathed his katanas.

"Hey, don't hog the final boss all to yourself. Me and Akamaru can her!" Kiba butted in with a wide grin. Akamaru (while under the Beast Human Clone jutsu) nodded with approval while growling under his breath.

"I'm far from the final boss, but that doesn't mean I will go down easy, boy…" she commented, but soon felt a void of emptiness as she realized her words didn't reach them.

"She even knows my name, while she doesn't even know who the hell you are. Why should I let you fight her!" Zoro argued.

"Bullshit! Knowing a person's identity means nothing BEFORE the fight. When I'm done with her, 'Inuzuka Kiba' will be engraved in her mind, trust me!"

"There is only one way to settle this then, dog boy."

"If it comes to this, then I accept your challenge, sword freak."

"Paper…"

"Scissors…"

Being completely thrown to the side, Desara erupted with fury and dashed forth. "You will NOT ignore me!"

"Rock!"

Two fists was crashed right into her face, knocking her back some distance before she regained her posture.

"A tie, huh?" Zoro commentating as he saw two rock signs were the end result.

"Shit… Rematch?" Kiba suggested.

Before Zoro could come up with the answer, a thorny vine popped out of the ground right below him. It sprouted out and cut a bit of his leg before Zoro dodged away. Kiba sensed that he would be attacked also, so he flipped backwards to avoid the oncoming attack. Akamaru got into a defensive stance as he stared down the woman who was behind these "plant" attacks.

"_I got one, now the other… I should take care of his shadow clone first though…"_

Suddenly, she disappeared in front of their eyes and immediately re-appeared behind Akamaru. With a kunai, she went for his head, but he ducked and gave her a backwards dropkick to push her back. He went forth for a strike, but she threw a high kick to the jaw to knock him up into the air.

Kiba saw that his dog partner was in trouble, so he burst forth on all fours and tackled the woman to the ground in an animalistic manner. She kicked him off and stepped on him, in a very sensitive spot…

"Be a good boy and let me finish things with this stubborn clone of yours. (steps harder) I want to have a little fun with you and Zoro-san here before it all ends…"

Akamaru rushed over to defend his master, but instead was immediately met with a double-fist attack to the chest, which sent him flying out of sight.

"That takes care of one problem. Now let the fun begin!" A sharp vine (much like the earlier one) from the ground beneath where Kiba laid sprouted and swiped at his back, leaving a noticeable bloody mark. Kiba's withstood the searing of the pain and immediately counter-attacked. He pulled out shurikens and aimed them at her neck, but she jumped back in time for her to avoid the projectiles from hitting its intended target. Instead…,

"How dare you ruin the neck of this suit? This happens to be my favorite one." Her cleavage now seemed to be more noticeable.

As Kiba got back up, he just smiled slickly. "I'm not sure whether I should be mad that I missed or not."

"Why you…," she said with a glare before she realized she stepping on something mushy. Once she understood her situation, she immediately jumped up on a high tree branch with an extremely irritated look on her face.

"I got to say, the dog shit goes well with your ripped clothes," Zoro commented as he stepped forth.

"My precious shoes," she complained before she took them off and threw it to a side. "This trashy place has no standards of living. After this recruit, I'll make this will be the first place I will take down under the leadership of…, crap I've said too much… No matter, since one will be dead and the other will be brainwashed, it's like explaining the meaning of life in front of a crowd of infants. Now the battle will turn the tide according to my say!"

"This bitch talks too much…"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to end this quick. I wanna grab some sake before finding a place to sleep, so I don't have the time for your pointless monologue," Zoro said as he pulled out his bandana and put it on.

"Allow me to apologize beforehand, because from now on, your lives end here!"

Soon after her words of threat, vines burst out of the ground all around them. At first the movements of each vine seemed random, but soon it made out into its intended shape.

"A cage? Really, you think too little of Konoha shinobi…," commented Kiba. He dashed forth to a side with a kunai in hand slashed at the barrier that confined them. It seemed to have no effect. The attempt was just bounced back, pushing Kiba to the ground.

While Kiba had a semi-bewildered and angry look on his face, Desara smiled confidently and began to explain, "You see here, my silly shinobi boy, this maneuver isn't your basic, easily-rippable trap. I began with allowing my "cage" to feed on your chakra slowly while I toyed with you guys. When it was durable enough (my plant makes use of every drop of chakra it sucks, so it didn't take long at all really), I sprang the trap and now none of you are able to run away your inescapable destiny. One dead shinobi and one brainwashed swordsman!"

"We'll see how durable this plant is!" shouted Zoro, "Tatsu… MAKI! A tornado of gust enveloped as soon as he slashed out his sword, aiming for the thorny vines that blocked his path. A large opening was made after the contact of the attack.

"Easier than I thought," Zoro replied with a grin. "Hey, dogboy let's get out of here!"

Before they can exit, the opening soon recovered completely, leaving it the way it was before.

"_We have to act a little faster next time," _Zoro decided. "Get ready this time!"

"Gotcha!"

"Really, I'm telling yo it's all futile. Oh well. Boys always have to learn it the hard way," Desara said to herself with a hand over her smiling face.

"TATSUMAKI!" Zoro roared as another gust of a dragon figure dived in toward its intended target. After a cloud of dust covered the area, Kiba quickly dived toward the opening where the attack was aimed at. Before he allowed him to go through head-first, he noticed something peculiar, so he flipped in mid-air, just barely avoiding contact with the spiky thorns.

"What the hell was that? Use the same amount of power you did the first time, can ya?" Kiba cried as he stared at the unscathed fence of thorns.

"I even made sure to exert more power that time so we both can get out…"

"Bravo, it seems the pirate has finally caught a clue. Yes, this cage strengthens after every minute and it strengthens even more after every attack!"

"_Shit! That means we are at more of a disadvantage with every passing second. If she were to start sending vines up from the ground, we only have so much room to dodge. We need to get out quick or we're done for," _thought Kiba.

"Hmm, that just means I just have to get stronger then!" Zoro responded with a grin. He began to concentrate, and the width of his arm began to expand immensely. However before he had a chance to lock in that growth of physical strength, a vine from beneathe the ground sneaked behind him and pierced itself all the way through.

"Agh," the swordsman cried as blood dripped from the wound.

"Zoro!" yelled Kiba before another vine from the ground burst out of the ground also. Kiba smelled it coming, so he rolled out of the way just in time to avoid it completely. But it curved and chased the shinobi, forcing Kiba to take quick agile steps, along with a faira amount of mid-air maneuvering. As he went toward Zoro, suddenly a slash of a sword brought him to an immediate halt, allowing the vine to finally make its way through him.

"You SON OF A BITCH (painful cursing)! What the hell was that for?" Kiba said, while his plant covered wound soaked in blood.

"I had no control in my arm at that time…" replied a confused Zoro.

Desara laughed uncontrollably at the scene before here, almost making her fall off of the branch she was still standing on. "Ya see, these thorns are just your average thorns. It is one of the features of the cage really. Before I could set up the trap, my plants have to know whose chakra signature it should steal from, so I had to offer it some of your blood you see (refer to the beginning of the encounter if you don't remember). And now with the cage set up at its perfect moment of ripeness around its intended target, the vines it produces at the bottom of the cage underground has more than the effect other than the wonderful feeling of stabbing pain. Yes, it spreads itself wherever blood flows within your mind and can manipulate it however I wish it to be manipulated. In other words, you pirate-ninja duo never had a chance!"

Enraged of being controlled, Zoro and Kiba prepared their deadly techniques within the confinements of the cage.

"Sanzen Sekai!"

"Shikon Ikazuchi (Fang Thunder; Twirls in Tsuga-like position slowly then pops into the air like a bullet with a strong push off of the ground then pushes himself off of the ceiling (or whatever there is to catch him) aiming toward the target using only smell as a sense (since the speed is too fast to be able to see anything other than blurs))!"

Instead of reaching the spot of the cage where Desara stood closest to, their attacks changed directions as soon it was launched, creating a clash of fangs and blades from ally to ally.

"Watch where you're aiming that thing!" Zoro yelled after having Kiba's attack block his and pushed onto the side of the cage. It didn't take long for what used to be a perfectly good white shirt to be drenched in red due to the bloody wound in the center of his stomach with the vine still very tightly attached to his innards along with dozens of punctured areas caused by the thorns on the cage.

"You're one to talk. Wear glasses if you can't see!" retorted Kiba with a bleeding hand after the direct contact with the blade. The dripping blood stain the ground beneathe him as he breathed heavily.

"As you can see, you guys are screwed. I can have you guys kill each other if I wanted to, so why not entertain myself first? Fight each other."

"What are we, your faithful little plants or something?" retorted Kiba as he forced a grin on his exhausted face.

"I guess I should state this before you guys are really going to start obeying me. I can kill you at anytime I please…." she threatened with a waver of her hand.

Suddenly, Kiba pulled out his own kunai and held it up against his own throat. "This is really bad, huh? You got all the little tricks to have things go your way, don't you?"

"Suicide? I never thought that was really your style, dog boy," joked Zoro as he breathed heavily.

"At least I'm not going to whore myself to god-knows-who?" Kiba replied.

"Fight, you say?" the swordsman asked Desara.

"I've got time to kill, so yeah. I'm very interested to see what's so special about the Straw Hat pirates. I can mke you guys fight by merely controlling you of course, but I want to see your pure skills. Whether you are worthy of our organization."

Zoro slid his katanas back into their sheathes as he pulled out a dark green bandana and tied it over his head. "Really, as pirates, we're nobody special. We're just an odd grouping of weirdos, freaks, and dreamers… However, as individuals…, I can't say for the rest, but as a swordsman, I won't accept defeat against anyone. Not until the day I have the chance to face _him _again."

"So, will you let me use my body again or will I be fighting him as a stiff board?" Kiba stated with an excited look on his face. Before she let the restraint of the vines inside his body loose, she made him leave a thin slash mark across the neck with the kunai that was being used against him by holding himself hostage (hopefully, you're understanding what's going on; if not, re-read).

"If you play yourself right, I might offer you a lowly position within our ranks. But that is only if you fight him with the intent to kill."

"I'm sorry, I'm not interested in that… (turns to Zoro) But I'am interested in kicking your ass."

"Yes. Winner gets a piece of the woman outside," Zoro suggested while pulling out his weapons again.

"Sounds like fun."

**Author's Notes:** Sorry for the very long update. I have been very busy with being lazy (that's not really a good excuse now, is it?). And to all others that are wondering, I don't write multiple chapters at a time (one chapter is already too much if you ask me). I release as soon as I'm done (well, maybe delay until daytime release instead of a nighttime one) and edit and re-fix around old chapters if I need to (so if you remember the story being one way rather than the other, but no longer see that contradiction, it can be me at work there).

At first (back before I realized how much a drag making a half-decent fight is), I intended on bringing all these "soldiers" or whatever out and having them all defeating in their own respective chapters with a team of characters. Now, due to laziness, I'm wrapping up this part of the ordeal up with the next chapter while still continuing in this arc's general direction.

And no, by the end of all of this, Naruto isn't setting sail nor will Luffy learns the way of the ninja (hmmm, that does sound cool though). Prepare for a goodbye at the end (that is, if I ever reach that point).

Anyways, to all people that are still reading the story, please enjoy and complain about my slowness. And remember to subscribe if you haven't so you can be kept in touch with my story updates. Also check out my other stories (that might not be updating anytime soon though), since some are pretty decent and I actually intended big plans for them. Anyways, read and review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: A Temporary Close**

Having a chance to restart their battle, Zoro and Kiba took each other on with no regret or holding back. 

Kiba dashed forth with a kunai in hand to combat against the three katanas of Zoro's. He jumped up in the air and stabbed downward aiming for Zoro's head. Zoro quickly sidestepped and swung his head back, using the katana in his mouth to not only block the attack but reflects off the hand of his opponent.

"_This guy has one hell of a jaw," _thought an astonished Kiba. Before he let himself get too distracted, he flip-kicked Zoro right in the face while still in mid-air and came down with a punch right afterwards. Zoro stepped back from the impact but immediately went onto counter with an attack of his own.

"Oni Giri!" he shouted while connecting the forward-triple-slash dash on a landing Kiba. 

Kiba dropped to the ground while dripping blood from the wounds of the recent attack. _"I'm not done yet!"_ he convinced himself and got right back up.

"Need a break?"

"Fuck off. Let's go!" 

Both Zoro and Kiba ran toward each other in a head-on collision of close combat. The fighting went no-hit for a while, with both men constantly dodging each other attack's. Zoro broke the stalemate with a slight cut on Kiba's cheek with the katana in his mouth. Prepared to use another technique, Kiba quickly spun away and elbowed his head. A slight stagger gave Kiba a much needed opening to take advantage. He short-hopped with a knee on the guarded chest while elbowing the back of the neck. Zoro slashed a katana recklessly to bat him away, but Kiba hopped onto the outreached sword and double dropkicked him right in the head. Zoro dropped the katana in his mouth while flying back a couple of feet.

"How about you? You want to use a time-out?" Kiba retorted back this time.

"Not when things are starting to get heated up…"

And they continued. Desara watched wth interest. "Remarkable. You tell these monkeys to go at each other and they do it without any second thoguht. Hmph, how unremarkable…" she commentated. Suddenly, a light went off on a device attached to her collar. "You can't be serious. God, you can't trust these other boys to do their jobs at all…" Then in an instant, she disappeared.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like neither Zoro nor Kiba noticed as the vines that surrounding them (and the ones in their bodies) slowly started to wither away. 

-SCENE-

Meanwhile, in town, Robin and Hinata were facing a skinny and fashinably bright enemy in front of the lab. He had a green mohawk with sunglasses, which made him stood out very obviously. The recenly flashing collar only added on to his uniqueness.

Kane, as he called himself, sprung a straightforward attack right off the bat, leaving Shizune unconscious. Although, the spiritless warriors around him no longer had the stamina or strength to stand back up again after what seemed-to-be an hour, this only meant that Kane can swing his weapon of choice even more aggressively, not that he held back by much before.

He wielded two long chains that seemed attached to his arms through a bracelet with extremely good range and very destructive. Both Hinata and Robin stood amidst broken debris and half-destroyed houses, breathing hard, while bearing many wounds.

"_My devil power doesn't stand a chance against his chain, which he can swing around considerable well despite its weight," _observed Robin.

"_A couple of more hits, and I'm afraid I can't stand back up," _concluded Hinata hopelessly,_ "I need to find the right time to close in the distance!"_

Once again, the two long chains whipped forth in a sudden burst of speed, targeted at the body of the two ladies. 

Robin jumped up and immediately summoned 4 arms to restrain the enemy's arms and legs and 2 arms to grab the chin. "Seis Fleurs…," began Robin. Unfortunately, the chain previously aimed at her was flicked upward to knock her off-balance in mid-air. This lost of concentration triggered Robin to released her planned attack and get caught by the chain by it being wrapped around her neck.

Meanwhile, Hinata rolled to the side to avoid the oncoming weapon and then ran alongside it to try to confront Kane close-up. Unfortunately, the chain was pulled back and then wrapped around her neck also.

"Now, now. I don't want to kill you darlings, but I sure as hell will if you're going to fight like that," he threatened followed by a sinister laugh.

While being strangled, Robin gave Hinata a quick glance, which the shinobi returned with a nod.

Robin crossed her arms and quietly spoked, "Cuatro Fleurs." Two arms bloomed on each arm on Kane's body. One pair of arms twisted his wrist to lose the chain's grip he had on Hinata while another pair held the wrist tight in order to restrain the movements of the right hand.

As soon as Hinata was released from the stranglehold, Hinata dashed toward the enemy with kunai in hand. She threw a kunai right to the wrist of the left hand to stop the enemy from using it. Once she got up close, she took no time to initiate the finishing move.

"Divine Retribution!" She bent her body low, while facing forward while her arms pointed behind her. Then in a quick flur of movements, she stepped forward and repeatedly pressed lightly on two specific points on the enemies chest and then kicked him back (with Robin's timely release, of course).

The enemy stood unfazed while checking his body. "Hahaha! Is this really all you got? To think, I avoided close combat with a Hyuuga no less all this time for no reason at all. Boy, did I luck out!"

"One more sudden movement and I cannot guarantee your life," Hinata said calmly while breathing heavily. She faced Kane right in the face completely opened with no fears or doubts in her eyes at all, proving her words were not just some bluff.

"I advise you to listen, Mohawk-san. In the short time I have known Hyuuga-san, I have realized one thing. Although hesitant, she is very precise in every action she takes."

"Like I'm going to listen to that bull…," he began before pausing for an instance.

"Kane-san, you should be feeling a weird feeling of burning gathering around the two chakra points I have repeatedly stabbed earlier. Due to me consistently closing and opening those two chakra points, I have caused it to be unstable. At this point, it is gathering all your chakra at an uncontollable pace. A sudden movement, such as a punch or kick, might cause the gathered chakra to explode out of your body." She allowed a short pause for Kane to absorb this thought in as he began to freak out, while trying his best to stand still (he was shaking, but that kind of movement wouldn't be enough for Divine Retribution to take in its dramatic effect). "As a captive of Konoha, you are now under our jurisdiction. If you fail to cooperate…"

"You f…," he shouted as he lashed his chain aimed at Hinata's head, going at full speed. Hinata stood still, completely calm with the weapon now merely inches from her face. 

Suddenly, the chain decelerated to a complete drop in velocity and lifelessly fell to the ground.

"What do you suggest we should do next, Hyuuga-san?" the archaeologist asked, while examining the dead enemy.

"We should bring Shizune-san and anyone else injured to the hospital. I'm sure Naruto-kun and the others can handle the rest."

-SCENE-

In the village, Chopper was bleeding profusely while Nami was up against a side of a building, barely standing with a broken ankle.

"CHOPPPER!" she cried while a gigantic ape-like monster ravaged on him. 

He was going to finish it with a jumping stomp but Chopper quickly revert into his standard form and rolled away. The impact of the pound on the ground pushed him away, throwing him straight into the building Nami was standing nearby.

"Chopper! Are you alright?" she worried while holding him up.

"Don't worry Nami. I'll protect you, just like everyone else would," he weakly convinced her while trying to get back up on his feet but falling over.

"Just one more Rumble Ball, and that will finish it," he replied as he tried to get back up again. He managed to get back up on two feet but stood unsteadily.

"Chopper, you've already taken two Rumble Balls. Are you sure it's okay to take another one so soon?"

Chopper briefly paused in thought but shook his head. "Nami, you should stay away…"

"No! If you're going to do something stupid, I won't leave you up against this monster by yourself!"

"Nami, although I can barely hear it, I understand the cries of that animal. He is being forced against his will from somebody, who should be nearby to give him his commands. If you can stop him, then we can end this!"

"Chopper, I can't…"

"Please Nami, I don't know have to do this. I…" Chopper spoke before the ape-like monster starting walking away.

"What's going on?" asked a shocked Nami while staring at the once extremely vicious monster who is now walking away in a docile manner. "It doesn't matter. We have to get away before it changes its mind. Come on!" 

-SCENE-

"Tenten, help out with Shino and the rest near the shopping district," Neji ordered while examining the village with his Byakugan eyes with haste while jumping building to building. "I'll go help Sakura and Lee before it's too late."

"How did it get so bad? We just had a small D-rank mission outside of the village and this happens. I'll make sure the attackers behind this get a taste of what's coming!" she replied before splitting away to her designated location. 

Neji continued forth and arrived to te area in front of the library. He saw Lee and Sakura utterly defeated while the enemy was disappearing into the distance.

"Damn…" Neji muttered before attending to his fallen comrades.

-SCENE-

Tenten just arrived and make it in time. Chouji and Ino were breathing roughly with all sorts of wounds, while Shino was quietly standing on the side with his trademark weapons of choice facing against a blue-haired guy in his underwear with a hawaiian shirt with a flashing collar on.

"If I weren't sent here to fight you, you bunch would be all right. It's unfortunate for you that I feel SUUUPPER this week!" he said while posing his oversized arms together to show a star.

"Everybody, are you guys okay?"

"Tenten, watch out! He may look and sound like an idiot, but it seems that he's a tad tougher than that," Ino weakly spoke while barely standing up straight.

"Guys, I think it's time to debut our new formation!" suggested Chouji.

"…" silently responded Shino.

"We haven't really worked on that yet," Ino said weakly.

"A new formation? Hah! Anything you throw at me would be useless!" responded the enemy. 

"We have poured our heart and soul into this new technique. And we will use it to defend our village to our dying breath!" shouted Chouji.

Then came an awkward silence in which the enemy faced away…

"That was beau---ti---FUUULLLL!" he cried out with tears on his face. "I don't know how to counter such a powerful phrase like that!"

"_Why do I feel like this guy is on the wrong team?" _Tenten thought while looking at the apparently "strong" enemy. 

"We know you're faking it. If you really valued the work of others, you wouldn't be ambushing us like this!" Chouji continued.

"I… I don't know what to say… I'm so confused… Why am I working for that guy in the first place… I'm Supppppeeeerrrrr Franky, I should be doing what I believe, and not follow some shady fat quack along with whoever is ordering him around. What is WRRRRROOOONNNNGGG with MEEEE?" he shouted before running away.

"That is one messed up guy," Ino stated before collapsing to the ground.

"I'm so hungry…." Chouji mumbled before dropping.

"Shino, take care of the rest. I'll try to track him down!" Tenten shouted, prepared to run after him.

"Not necessary. I have placed a bug on him," he stated before forming a bug clone of himself. "This will be enough for basic surveillance." Then the clone ran off in the direction of the enemy.

-SCENE-

"You have a lot of explaining to do…." Kakashi said while carrying an overweight bald man in an army suit tied up in rope.

"Damn, that freakin' rat bastard!" cried Hayze.

"Gai will bring him back soon enough. In the meantime, I offically welcome you to Konoha."

**Author's Notes:** Yes, sorry for the very long update. Anyways, here's the chapter with it closing the "invasion" but with more to come. If anyone's still into this fic (and I sure as hell wouldn't blame you if you just abandoned it, because I almost did myself), please review and enjoy. Feel free to criticize, find any mistakes/inconsistencies, or just plain speculate. Have fun!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: What to Do?**

"Tsunade-sama, Morino-san have sent me to give you his report," said a fellow Konoha shinobi in Hokage's office.

It had been hours since the invasion incident has finally calmed down. Now it was a matter of finding out who attacked them and why.

Tsunade calmly sat behind her desk, turning her chair to the window, viewing the village below. The enemy hasn't made much destruction and no civilians were killed, although many were injured, varying from minor to major. Nothing herself and her staff couldn't handle though. She was just planning to take a short break in her office, not expecting for the any of the two captured enemies (anyone else being either dead or able to escape) to leak out anything so soon.

"What did he find out?" she asked curtly with authority.

"Well…"

-SCENE-

A couple of days later…

"Man, I wondered what we were all called for," Luffy wondered in an easygoing manner while walking with his hands behind his head. He didn't think much of the assault earlier in the week. It was just another day in a pirate's life after all.

"It's probably going to be about the attack. I have some unfinished business, so I hope they're done with all this investigating, so we can move on with our business with them…" said a bitter Zoro. Although he did get a get good fight with the dog guy from it, he didn't like doing it at the expense of another person forcing him.

"We saw you fighting a garden cage match against some other guy with no enemy in sight. What unfinished business are you talking about exactly? Flower-picking?" teased Sanji.

"You want to start something, you goddamn love-cook?!?!"

"At least, I beat my enemy!"

"Yeah, three-on-one? That's something to boast about!"

"Quiet!" Nami yelled with hits on their heads using her Clima-Tact, leaving a disgruntled swordsman and a blissful Sanji.

"Whatever you say, Nami-swaaan!" Sanji was always one to remain optimistic whether it's being hit on or hit _by_ a pretty woman.

"Anyways, me and Chopper weren't so lucky with whom we had to deal with. I hope Konoha keeps their business in order, so we don't have to get involved in this nonsense again. Right, Chopper?"

"…Um, yeah," replied a distracted Chopper. He didn't seem to be in his usual full spirit since after the incident.

"I don't believe this incident merely was a conflict created from Konoha alone," speculated Robin.

"What do you mean, Robin?" asked Usopp, who seemed overly-bandaged for a guy who wasn't hurt that badly from what happened a couple of days ago.

"Well, there were some instances where it seems that their motives seemed more focused on us, just the guests, rather than on any individual in the village," she explained.

"So brilliant, Robin-chwannnnn!" complimented a spinning Sanji in lovey-dovey mode.

"Hmph, if they're after us then, we'll give them just that!" commented Luffy in confidence, while making a fist.

"Looks like we're here. Let's get this meeting over with," Zoro stated.

They enter into Konoha's headquarters, and along with everyone else, gathered into an overcrowded conference room.

"Make way, make way," Usopp spoke loudly through the crowd. "The unsung heroes from the invasion have arrived!"

Everyone turned and gave a stern look at the pirates.

In response, Nami gave a hard smack to the back of Usopp's head. "Sorry, sorry. He didn't mean anything by it."

"Sheesh, what a tough crowd," Usopp whispered as they moved their way to the front, where more familiar faces stood.

In front of the conference room, there stood Tsunade in the center, with Shikamaru and Neji to her right and left, and Naruto and the rest stood to the sides.

"Yo!" Luffy greeted loudly.

"Hey," Naruto responded.

"Since I haven't had a chance to meet up with you guys since before the attack, are all of you all right?" asked Tenten.

"Oh, nothing you have to worry about, Tenten-san!" Sanji said while squiggling about in his usual "lovey" manner.

Sakura walked over to Chopper bending low with a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you very much with helping us tend to the injured, Dr. Chopper."

"Don't think saying that can make me happy, you asshole," replied a cheerful dancing Chopper.

"I would've gladly gone and help too!" Sanji declared with undying passion. "Anything for you, Sakura-chan!!"

"You would just be giving more pain rather than curing it," Zoro retorted while finding a wall to lean against.

Sanji was about to say something, but Shizune interrupted.

"Hokage-sama has a few things to say regarding our most recent incident," she announced. The room instantly quieted down.

"After doing some interrogating on one of the captured men yesterday for a little bit…, quite literally, Ibiki-san has found some information regarding who was behind the attack yesterday," Tsunade began.

"Well, who the hell was it? My wife and kids are in the hospital right now, because of those freakin' zombie bastards!" cried one of the shinobi.

"Shush, let the hokage speak!" another said.

"I understand, many of us came very close at loving our loved ones in yesterday's incident. However, as shinobi, we must not let our emotions dictate our actions or that would mean the enemy has won. Now, I'm not sure how we should interpret the information we have received, but after finding out about some things…, or some people, recently ("Hey, she's talking about us!" Usopp whispered), I can't just simply dismiss it as nonsense."

"Well, what did he say?" one of them asked impatiently.

"Okay, here it goes. There exists a group who hopes to dominate the shinobi world through recruiting, mainly manipulating, powerful "soldiers" throughout several worlds. They identify themselves as Koragen. Hayze is a recently promoted leader for the subdivision responsible for attacking our village and has been captured by us. Coincidentally, he is also the one that spilled much of the information that I have today," Tsunade replied swiftly.

The room grew silent.

"What? Is this a joke, Hokage-sama?" one of them asked.

"Throughout several worlds? Do you mean other countries?" another asked.

"Dominate the world? This sounds like some villain in a bad book…" another commented.

"Where's the food? I'm starving!" Luffy shouted.

"DON'T BE SO LOUD IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO ADD ANYTHING TO THE CONVERSATION!" Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro cried while smacking the back of his head.

"Yeah, I'm the loud one," the captain murmured silently.

"What a nutcase! Why should we take any of this stuff seriously?" one of them commented once the attention was off of the visitors.

"Our guests aren't from this "world" as we found out through some recent information," Neji replied in a serious tone.

"Huh?" a dumbfounded shinobi questioned, clearly representing the majority of the room's current train of thought.

"Holy crap, are they aliens?" Naruto shouted loudly.

"I went toe-to-toe with an alien, Gai-sensei!" Lee said to himself with Gai giving a thumbs-up from across the room.

"Well, the guy we fought was a weirdo, but still…" Ino said unsurely.

"No, we're not implying anything extra-terrestrial or of that nature," Neji replied, trying to bring the conversation back on track. "What I said simply means that they aren't from here."

"Not from here? Foreigners?" asked Tenten.

Hinata moved up front and spoke. "What Neji-san means that after investigating a little about the Straw Hats, we've discovered some unusual points about them. On all of the clothing that they wore on the day they arrived here, there are mysterious micro-fabrics stuck to them. The same can be found on the clothing of the dead enemies and captives. Along with that, the lumber that makes up our guests' ship is also of mysterious origin, according to our knowledge. Using all of Konoha's resources, as well as our allies', we have found absolutely nothing about them."

"Fine, they have unique clothing and a unique ship. That doesn't mean anything," one responded.

This time Shikamaru walked up, while Hinata retreated back to the group. "In addition to that, according to the statement of the Straw Hats, they have no idea how they got here or where they are for that matter. Their fighting style is unique to any sort of shinobi standards. And one witness, who happened to be fishing at the lake they arrived in, insists on seeing a giant 'sheep' appearing out of thin air before exiting the scene. The giant 'sheep' being, of course, the Going Merry, our guests' ship, which is currently anchored there, which happened to be the vessel they were on before they 'transported,' in their own words," he said before stretching. "Now, coincidences can only go so far before you start seeing some kind of meaning behind. I understand how outlandish everything seems right now, but it is much wiser to be prepared for the impossible rather than simply denying it and regretting so later on."

"I can't believe it…." Luffy responded in shock, while his nakama turned to him with worry.

"Are we really aliens?!?!?"

"CAN YOU BE ANYMORE SLOW?!?" responded in unison by some of the members of his crew. The rest just hanged their heads low in shame for following under such an idiotic captain.

"Anyways, we're not here to debate about the existence of the problem but to discuss remedies for it," Tsunade spoke up, steering the conversation back on track.

"If this is indeed the case, we have to do something about it before it gets out of hand," Lee suggested loudly.

"Yeah, the longer we leave this thing hanging, the bigger it would get," Kiba added in.

"But that's easier said than done. Do we even know anything about the enemies' whereabouts?" Chouji asked.

"In this case, Hayze seems unclear on the location at all. He insists that there was no reason to know where he worked. Since the organization kept Hayze on a need-to-know basis, he was just kept in a deserted warehouse in an isolated area and was transported when needed somewhere else. In this case, he was sent to retrieve the Straw Hats."

"Eeeeek, us!!! Why?!?!?" Usopp cried.

"That did seem the case when Hinata-san and I were dealing with Mohawk-san," Robin observed.

"That means we'll definite get a chance to meet those guys again. Maybe the stay here won't be so bad after all," Zoro replied with a grin. He was ready to take that Desara again anytime.

"Don't worry, Nami-swaaan and Robin-chwaan! I'll protect you guys!!!" Sanji declared with love.

"Hmmm, well if that's the case, then… Yeah! They must have had someway to get back too. Since the guy we captured is a general, shouldn't he have something on him to allow him to transport back?" Naruto suggested.

"Yes, that is also something we have considered while he was being interrogated, but according to him, Taks, one of his 8 special soldiers, grabbed it from him while escaping," Shikamaru replied cooly.

"Such a shame," cried Gai. "If he hadn't surprise me with a smoke bomb plus genjutsu combination, I would had have enough time to react to his sudden burst in speed and opened up my gates!"

"So we're at a dead-end then?" Sakura replied sadly.

"Well, what about the other captive?" Ino asked.

"Arusatsu showed no signs of cooperation…" Tsunade replied.

"Give me a couple of minutes with him! I'll make him talk!" Naruto shouted.

Suddenly, a fellow comrade shinobi supposed to be standing watch rushes inside.

"Tsunade-sama, another enemy has breached the gates and is heading this way. The intruder has managed to break through all the guards on post and is heading straight this way!"

"An enemy!" Neji reacted "I didn't expect one to return so soon!"

"Heh, I'll take care of the guy!" both Naruto and Luffy declared simultaneously.

"Oi, I said it first so back off!" Luffy screamed.

"What? We said it at the same time. Anyways, since I'm not the guest here, just sit back and let a real shinobi do the job," Naruto yelled back.

"Shinobi? What the hell's that? Does that taste good?"

The room fell silent with Luffy's obvious slowness.

"Uh, anyways, I don't think it would be best for any of you to go," Tsunade declared.

"What? Why, Tsunade-obaachan?" Naruto asked loudly.

"Sorry, big-boobed-nee-san, I've already decided to fight this guy!" Luffy declared boldly.

BAM! WHACK! POUND!

"First of all, it's Hokage-sama!" Tsunade said quietly but deadly.

"Hai," both Naruto and Luffy replied grimly with bruised faces from the superhuman beating.

"Eeek, she's even scarier than Nami!" Chopper squealed.

"Second of all, we just reconstructed the village not too long ago. I'm sure that if either of you go, it will be impossible to avoid more than minimal damage."

"Hmm, you seem to know our captain well," Zoro commented.

"With the guys I have to deal with on a daily basis, I could tell an idiot a mile away..." she replied with a depressed tone.

"Anyways, Tenten and Neji, I want you handle this."

"Yes, ma'am!" they both responded simultaneously. And in an instant, they were off.

-SCENE-

"SSSUUUUPPPPPPPAAAAA FRANKY IS HERE!!!"

**Author's Notes:** "What to do?" Exactly my thoughts as to this fanfic. I'm just really lazy, and although I want this story to go on, I'm not motivated much to do about it. Hell, who knows when the next update will be. Anyways, just a talking chapter (doing my best to make it interesting). I'll try to define the villains in a less-cliché light further down in the road if we ever get there. Thanks for hanging on!


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Men Against Machine**

"Who the hell do I have to beat up to get an answer around here?" yelled out Franky. He had his sunglasses on, tealish hair flowing in the wind, and an opened vacation shirt and underwear being the only items of clothing to cover him. Clothing-wise, this was his typical uniform to express his superness. However, there were some other things bothering him.

-FLASHBACK-

"_Where the hell am I?"_ He needed some answers as to how he ended up in this hick neighborhood and out of Water 7, his home island. Last thing he remembered was wiping his tears in a forest nearby for some reason, and then it finally occurred to him. He had no idea where he was.

So all in all, he walked around for a while and found himself in this village. The citizens of this area did not seem all that friendly though. He tried to walk up the gate's guards, and they immediately identified him as "He's that perverted guy from the invasion!"

They sure as hell didn't know how to properly greet their guests, but he tried to stay calm.

"I have no idea what you're talkin' about, but maybe you can help me out. Which way is Water 7?"

"We better call in for back-up, sir!" one guard said to the other.

"Heck no! I can take care of this trash. It's only right for me to give him the proper compensation him and his gang deserves for messing with my men and Konoha!"

"There he goes being reckless again," sighed a hopeless subordinate.

"Fine, if you're not up for talking, I'll beat it out of you!" yelled Franky.

However, it did not turn into much of a challenge for Franky. His toys ineffective. His magic tricks unimpressive. His durability…, not very long lasting. All he needed was a good punch to be down for the count. However, his situation would not be resolved so simply…

He soon found himself surrounded by these guards, ready to take action at any moment's notice. They were pissed.

"Hey, I'm the one who should be mad here! If you don't know the way to Water 7, just say so!"

-END FLASHBACK-

"Anyways, Tenten and Neji, I want you handle this."

"Yes, ma'am!" they both responded simultaneously. And in an instant, they were off.

While traveling through the traffic of everyday life in the village, they discuss their plans.

"So, how should we approach this guy, Neji?" Tenten asked. Although she had been a fully capable ninja by now in terms of strength and rank compared to Neji, every time she's around him, she always feels that she should act subordinate to him. A matter of habit, I guess…

"Knowing that it could possibly an enemy from this Koragen, it's best to take no chances and handle it as swiftly as possible. You divert him and I'll try to get up close," Neji clearly stated.

"Wait, someone's following us…" Tenten suddenly noticed.

"Don't worry. It's just one of them!" Neji said calmly as they continued advancing.

"Them?" Tenten wondered as she looked back. A happy-go-lucky Sanji was keeping up with them from behind.

"Mellorineeeee!!!! Nami-swan told me that I should accompany you and see what's going on!!!!" Sanji shouted from afar, fully enthusiastic.

"Try not to get in our way," Neji stated.

"Who the hell's talking to you, you bastard?!?" Sanji yelled back. Then he calmly returned to his smooth lovey tone. "Tenten-san, don't worry. I'll protect you and make sure you will not be harmed. That's my promise to you!"

Tenten nervously laughed. "Uh, yeah. Thanks…"

"I see the enemy in sight. Get ready!" Neji ordered. Another enemy so soon… _"Whatever this organization is, they're impatient. However, it seems there's only one person to worry about… Is this really an isolated attempt to knock Konoha while it's recovering?"_

Both shinobi sped up leaving Sanji behind only to catch up later. Whether this was a one man army or a decoy, it was up to the ninja of Konoha to take care of it. Sanji somewhat understood that and decided there was no need for him to rush to the scene. _"Once that bastard touch my beloved Tenten-san though, all bets are off!"_

Meanwhile, for Franky, it seems the overprotective men were starting to back off. "Now, that you guys understand how super I am, show me to your leader!" he cried with a pose of victory, two arms diagonally pointing to the sky.

In an instant, all the men backed off and retreated.

"Geez, not even an apology after giving me all that trouble…" he responded.

Before he had much time to relax though, two kunai were thrown at him, forcing him to jump back out of reflex. He did not have much time to start complaining before another barrage of weapons was hurled at him. This time, they were much more plentiful in number.

"Twin Rising Dragons!"

"Star Shield!"

Since Franky considered it hopeless to try to completely avoid the attack, he took it head on by walking through it with his arm covering his head. Re-inventing himself as a cyborg was meant for this durable defense after all. Once the seemingly never-ending barrage of weapons slowed down, it took no wasted time to counter attack.

"Beans Left!" His left arm rotated inward, only to reveal four holes of rapid fire explosive pellets, aiming at his attacker, Tenten.

She did not expect such a responsive turnover, but did her best to move outside of the range of fire by jumping off the top of the roof she was on. She then throws a kunai in retaliation which went straight to Franky's chest.

Unfortunately, the weapon barely scratched his chest before dropping to the ground.

"Sorry, something like this can't hurt…."

BOOM!

An explosion clearly caught Franky. Tenten had prepared an explosive tag on the kunai, so it was no wonder it made such a heavy impact.

"_I didn't see him budge, so did I get a clear hit?"_ Tenten wondered as the smoke started to clear.

"Gotta say, that packed a punch, but something like that can't stop me," Franky declared while posing in his usual form.

By that time, Neji had already maneuvered in front of the opponent, ready to take him down. Before Franky could react, the attack had begun.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" he coldly stated as he examined the ignorant man standing before him.

In an instant, he started delivering quick finger jabs to the body of Franky. He continued striking to the unfazed body. Before reaching 64, he sensed his attack wasn't very effective, and barely avoided a return punch, slightly bruising his cheek.

"_Even with his tough exterior, I assumed I would be able to have some effect with the gentle fist style…" _Neji reflected.

"Don't tell me you're done yet. Our fight's just getting started," said a grinning Franky getting into a boxing pose. "Franky Boxing!" Fists up and ready to punch, while quickly shuffling his feet.

"_What is he even made of?" _Tenten thought while watching on.

Neji made no signs of hesitation as he provoked the enemy to make the first move.

Franky quickly move in for a right hook. Neji jumped for a quick kick to the jaw before Franky could make any contact and followed up with a double-palm to the chest to push him back. Franky impatiently stepped in again, only to get two strikes to the chest. He did not budge and landed a clean one-two combo in on Neji's upper body. His body couldn't take the attacks well as his opponent, leaving him a moment of vulnerability. Franky delivered an uppercut to close the deal. Before flying upward from the attack, he landed a hard kick to Franky's cheek.

Franky fell over to the side but quickly rolled back up to his feet, while Neji back-flipped and landed on his right knee and hands. He slowly got back up, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Master Nail!" Franky took a deep breath and started firing nails out of his mouth in rapid fire.

"Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin!" He quickly maneuvered around while deflecting all projectiles getting near him. No projectile was able to enter within a set radius from his technique as he continued guarding from the onslaught of the nails. When the Master Nail attack has reached its limits, it was revealed that Neji managed to catch some of nails and he launched them right back at Franky's head.

"Star Shield!" He raised his arm to cover the oncoming projectiles from hitting him. _"Who does he think he is trying to hit me with my own attack!?!?"_

When Franky finally relaxed his guard, he received a warm welcome from re-entrance of the other opponent.

Tenten punched him hard with a baton equipped, having him spit blood from how hard she hit him. With another baton equipped on her other arm, she did not make no hesitation to continue delivering combos of baton beating. Quickly switching the baton between arm guard and stick handling, she left Franky no opening to make a clean counter or room to escape. All aimed toward his face. Leaving him much bruised and bloodied up.

Franky finally grabbed a baton before it was swinged over his head with his left arm and pulled it from her and pushed her back.

"Enough of this…" he silently spoke from feeling fatigue. He launched it back at her, but she quickly side-stepped to avoid it.

"Fresh FIRE!!!!" Flames burst out of his mouth, aimed directly at Tenten who was caught off-guard. It quickly reached her figure and burned her intensely. Franky continued exhaling the fire to make sure she would stay burnt.

When he finally could breathe out no more, he gradually ceased the attack. Out of the flames though, he noticed a thin figure in a burnt suit, covering Tenten. A blonde man with a cigarette in his mouth Franky noticed as he turned around…

"Thanks for the light, but sorry… I'm still gonna beat the living shit out of you. Nothing personal, but didn't your parents ever teach you some manners when dealing with a lady?"

"Sorry, the Grand Line treated me with no parents, but plenty of memories. Want me to tell you all about them?"

"Sure…."

Sanji quickly rushed in and deliver an aimed high jumping kick, to which Franky blocked with his left arm.

"Strong Hammer!" He took the skin of his right hand and delivered a pure steel punch toward the face of Sanji. Sanji barely avoided it by twisting his body and kicking the arm away from him.

As soon as he got back up on his feet, he ducked under a second punch and returned a strong back sweep kick to the loin. Franky fell over hard to the ground, bending over while rubbing his lower back.

"Guess you aren't invincible after all," Sanji stated.

"I have plenty more up my sleeve so don't get too cocky yet!" he cried as he slowly got back up.

By then, however, Neji, Tenten, and Sanji have all surrounded him.

"It seems his back isn't as tough as his front…" Tenten said.

"Yes, Tenten-san!!! It was me who discovered it! Me!!!" Sanji proclaimed proudly while twirling in delight.

"Let's finish this…" Neji ordered.

"Wait, wait!" Franky cried as he saw his three opponents close in on him. They stopped to see what he had left to say.

"Since it's three-on-one, at least allow me to do this… Franky Invincible!!!!"

… A moment of silence after his comeback technique…

"Eh, why is he lying on the ground like that? Is he surrendering?" Tenten pondered.

"Well, doing that does have his weakness covered, but it's not like he can fight back now…" Sanji examined before getting distracted by Tenten's thinking face. Then he just started prancing around.

"This is pointless…" Neji remarked coldly.

"Ha ha! See what you fools can do now?!?!" Franky boasted.

"Tenten…" Neji indicated.

"Oh, yeah…" Tenten said, before Sanji stepped in.

"Allow me to do the honors, Tenten-san!!" he happily volunteered.

He dashed in and launched him into the air with a standard soccer kick. The body fell toward Neji, who was in a perfect position to take advantage of the enemy's weakness. Franky dazily dropped with his back toward the ground.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Repeated strikes flew upward, continuously piercing accurately to his internal organs. Constant delays from hitting the floor, with each strike giving an ever-so slight push against gravity.

By the end of the technique, Franky was lifelessly dropped to the ground, knocked out cold.

"Okay, let's take him back and find out his identity and for what purpose he decided to enter Konoha."

"Ah!!" Tenten finally noticed now she had a good look at him. "He's with that Koragen organization. I remember Ino and the others were fighting him. I should have noticed sooner with his odd choice in clothing…"

"This means we will be able to get some more answers out of him. Hopefully, we'll be able to gather more useful information on what we're up against…"

**Author's Notes:** Well, that's a fairly quick release considering my typical track record, so I'm somewhat proud of myself. I know this fight would cause many concerns, such as "Really, three against one to take Franky down?!?!?" In my defense, this is just an "overwhelm the enemy" strategy, rather than a serious fight. Plus, Franky's advantage of having a very durable upper body gave him much of a fighting chance early on in the fight.

Next chapter will start off with Tsunade sending a team to investigate the whereabouts of the mysterious and somewhat cliché Koragen. To make it somewhat interactive, in your reviews think of an ideal 4-man cell involving our heroes. I have not think too much of it yet, so I may even end up using your ideas (I'll try to remember to give you credit).

Also, comment on the fight scene. I'd like to think the fight scene has gotten better (watched much more martial arts movies during the time; Donnie Yen FTW!) than early on, although I have lost my touch with the fighting styles of the Naruto characters (it don't even feel right for me to use the Japanese names of the techniques anymore as you may have noticed; anime filler really have detached me from the awesome fighting that was in Naruto). The One Piece characters I'm still working on, not sure if I'll ever get it right. If my description of the fight scene is confusing / cluttered up/ or just damn dull, please say so!

Anyways, read and review, and don't expect another quick release!


End file.
